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THE WORD 
OF TRUTH 



Volume I. 



THE PENTATEUCH 



o"" BY 



E: V. ZOLLARS, A. M., LL. D. 

t) 

PRESIDENT OF OKLAHOMA 
CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY 

Author of "Bible Geography," "The Great Salva- 
tion," "Hebrew Prophecy," etc. 



*'Give diligence to present thyself approved unto 
God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, 
handling aright the word of tr-uth.*' — 2 Tim. 2:15. 



The Standard Publishing Company 
cincinnati, ohio 






Copyrighted. 1910. by 

The Standard Publishing Company^ 

Cincinnati, Ohio. 



©CI.A273277 



'mti^ 



To the Wife of My Youth, 

The Companion and Helpmeet of My 

Maturer Years ^ 

The Sharer of My Aspirations^ 

Hopes and Joys^ 

This Volume is Lovingly Dedicated. 



!ii 



PREFACE 

WHILE this volume is confined to the Pentateuch, 
it is the purpose of the author to follow it with 
an additional volume, possibly with two volumes, on the 
other books of the Bible. The work, as a whole, may 
be denominated Biblical Introduction, although in 
some of its features it is somewhat different from a work 
of that kind. The general treatment proceeds from the 
conservative standpoint, because of the growing con- 
viction of the author that the methods used and results 
obtained by the divisive school are utterly erroneous and 
untrustworthy. No claim of originality is set up, either 
as to arguments in answer to the contentions of the 
divisive school, or in support of the conservative posi- 
tion. Nor are new arguments necessary, since the 
theories of the destructive critics have been overthrown 
and their arguments triumphantly answered by such men 
as Green, Bissell, Anderson, McGarvey, and many others. 
The effort is made, so far as the work deals with critical 
questions, to put such discussions into as simple a form 
as possible, such as is suitable for the layman, the 
preacher and the general Bible student who does not 
have time or opportunity for extended investigation. 
There is also introduced a considerable amount of matter 
that is of a practical character, bearing on duty and 
service ; in short, upon life in many of its phases. To 
this end, the most obvious lessons of the various books 
are brought out. It would seem, therefore, that the 
work is a combination of Biblical Introduction and 
Hermeneutics in its broad aspects. 



vi PREFACE. 

It is hoped that the book will be found serviceable 
for the classroom, the Bible school and for the private 
study. It is the aim of this volume to present in simple 
form a general knowledge of the books of the Penta- 
teuch, and of the critical questions connected therewith, 
without going into the latter subject in a minute 
way, owing to its complicated character and its profitless 
and unpractical nature to the general student. 

It is the earnest wish of the author that the Bible 
student, who gives this volume a reasonably careful 
study, will have gleaned much valuable information con- 
cerning the books of ]Moses, and will have acquired an 
understanding of the leading arguments set forth in 
defense of their truly historic character. 



INDEX 



PART I. 

The Bible as a "Wliole. 

CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

The importance dignity of Bible study 1 

The Bible, the primary text-book on God 3 

The Bible as related to human progress and civilization 5 

The Bible as a book of history 7 

The Bible as a book of literature 8 

The Bible as a book of ethics 10 

The Bible as a modern book 12 

The Bible, the revelation of God's plan of redemption 13 

The Bible's view of man 15 

The Bible's method of teaching 16 

The Bible as a quickening and transforming power 18 

The Bible as a sustaining power 19 

The Bible as a telescope 21 

CHAPTER n. 

The Bible as a whole 23 

The question of inspiration 25 

The names given to the sacred writings 27 

Striking peculiarities of the Bible 29 

CHAPTER HI. 

The Bible divided into Old and New Testaments 36 

Analysis, the nature of the process 36 

The Bible divided according to will or testament 39 

CHAPTER IV. 

Divisions of the Old Testament 50 

The Old Testament divided according to literary character. . 51 

The Old Testament divided according to literary form 53 

The Old Testament, Scripture method of division 57 

The Old Testament divided by books 58 

The Old Testament divided according to purpose 61 

vii 



viii INDEX. 

CHAPTER V. 

PAGE 

Periods of Old Testament literature 64- 

The Oral period of Revelation 64 

The Mosaic period of Revelation 67 

The Davidic period of Revelation 69 

The Proplietic period of Revelation 72 

The Restoration period of Revelation 7S 

The period of arrangement 80 

The Apocrypha 81 



PART II. 

The Antliorsliip of the Pentateuch. 

CHAPTER VI. 

The authorship of the Pentateuch, preliminary- matters 85 

A method of study 85 

Contents of the Pentateuch SS 

The life and work of Moses 91 

What Moses received from others as a foundation 96 



CHAPTER Vn. 

Two Rival Theories Considered 102 

Two theories compared 102 

Reasons standing against the analytical theory 110 



CHAPTER VHI. 

The Testimony found in the Pentateuch. Historical Books 

and the Psalms 124 

The testimony of the Pentateuch as to its authorship 124 

The testimonv of the Historical Books as to the authorship 

• of the Pentateuch 128 

The testimony of the Psalms as to the authorship of the 

Pentateuch 134 



CHAPTER IX. 

Testimony of the Prophetic Books and the New Testament.. 146 
Testimony of the Prophetic Books as to the authorship of 

the Pentateuch 146 

Testimony of the New Testament as to the authorship of 

the Pentateuch 171 



INDEX. ix 

CHAPTER X. 

PAGE 

Other arguments for the jMosaic authorship. . . , 175 



PART III. 

Tlie Book of Beginnings. 

CHAPTER XL 

The Beginning of the Material Universe and of man 189 

The beginning of the material universe 191 

The beginning of humanity ■ 197 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Beginning of Family and Business Life 200 

The beginning of family life. 200 

The beginning of business hfe 206 

CHAPTER XIIL 

The Beginning of Probation 212 

The conditions under which man was tested 213 

The nature of the test 214 

The nature of the penalty 216 

The lessons of the test 217 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Beginning of Sin and Its Attendant Evils 223 

The beginning of sin 224 

The beginning of fear 228 

The beginning of envy 231 

The beginning of violence 234 

CHAPTER X"v. 

The Beginning of Altruism and Human Redemption 237 

The beginning of altruism 238 

The beginning of redemption 244 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Beginning of Religion and Judgment 257 

The beginning of natural religion 257 

The beginning of revealed religion 261 

The beginning of judgment 264 



3 IXDEX. 

PART IV. 

The Separate Books of tlie Pentateuch. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

PAGE 

The Book of Genesis 273 

The Book of Genesis, its character 274 

The Book of Genesis, its unity 276 

The Book of Genesis, not in conflict with science 279 

The Book of Genesis, how produced 289 

The Book of Genesis, its divisions 292 

The Book of Genesis, its design 294 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

The Book of Exodus 296 

The Book of Exodus, its character 296 

The Book of Exodus, its divisions 298 

The Book of Exodus, its design 300 

The Book of Exodus, its relations to Genesis 302 

The Book of Exodus, its doctrines 303 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The Book of Leviticus 305 

The Book of Leviticus, its pecuharities 305 

The Book of Leviticus, its divisions 306 

The Book of Leviticus, its design 308 

The Book of Leviticus, its credibiHty 310 

The Book of Leviticus, its lessons 311 

CHAPTER XX. 

The Book of X^'umbers 315 

The Book of Numbers, its lack of proportion 315 

The Book of Numbers, its logical place in the history 317 

The Book of Numbers, the results achieved by wilderness 

experience 318 

The Book of Numbers, summary of its contents 323 

The Book of Numbers, its credibility 324 

CHAPTER XXL 

The Book of Deuteronomy 326 

The Book of Deuteronomy, reasons for repetition of the law 327 

The Book of Deuteronomy, its contents 328 

The Book of Deuteronomy, its purpose 331 

The Book of Deuteronomy, its truthfulness 334 

The Book of Deuteronomy, its lessons 335 

Conclusion 337 

Authorities consulted 338 



PART I. 
Xne Sible as a ^A' nole. 



THE WORD OF TRUTH 



CHAPTER I. 

The Importance and Dignity of Bible Study. 

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 

1. When man comes with reverent and receptive 
mind to the study of God's word it is impossible to 
exaggerate the dignity and importance of the under- 
taking. It is a serious occasion because of the radical 
effects and far-reaching consequences that must in- 
evitably follow such an exercise, and it is a sacred 
occasion because of the divine character of the book 
Vv'ith which the student deals. 

When Moses came to the burning bush God said, 
*'Put off thy shoes from ofif thy feet, for the place 
whereon thou standest is holy ground." So when we 
approach this flame of divine lighting let it be with the 
feeling that we are about to tread on holy ground. 
We shall never be the same after this study that we 
are now. or would have been without it. The reading 
of any book is a very serious question. It will leave 
its mark; it will change the mental texture and color. 
The question of what to read or what not to read 
demands serious consideration. It will be readily 



2 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

admitted that the forming of companionships is a very 
grave question, because the whole course of life is 
affected thereby. It is also well understood that the 
body is affected by everything eaten. Wholesome 
food is absolutely essential in order to maintain a 
sound body. The same principles hold good in the 
intellectual domain. Everything taken into the mind 
has its effect for good or evil. It therefore follows 
that no one can be the same after this study as before 
it. All future life will be influenced by it, and even 
eternal destiny will be, in a measure, affected. 

2. Earnest seriousness is the mental condition 
necessary to the reception of great truth. A frivolous 
mind is a shallow soil in which to deposit the seeds 
of truth. This law holds good in every field of knowl- 
edge. Frivolousness withers the most beautiful 
plants that take root in the soil of the human mind, 
like a frost in June withers the tender vegetation of 
spring. 

This is peculiarly true in the study of sacred truth. 
Every spiritual blessing has its own condition on 
which it must be received. Jesus said, ''Blessed are 
the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Purity of 
heart is, therefore, the necessary condition of seeing 
God. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain 
mercy." The exercise of mercy is the condition upon 
which the receiving of mercy is suspended. So here, 
earnest seriousness is a necessity to him who would 
see the higher spiritual truth. Without this the appre- 
hension of truth is impossible in any clear and ex- 
haustive Avay. 

This being true, it is with a deep sense of respon- 
sibility that I approach this task, and I would have 
every student w^ho may follow me in this study come 



THE PRIMARY TEXTBOOK ON GOD. 3 

with very earnest and serious mind and reverent pur- 
pose. 

The importance and dignity of Bible study appear: 

I. Because the Bible is the primary text-book 
on Godo 

1. It may be said that the book of nature is a 
revelation of God, but it should be observed that the 
Bible is needed as an antecedent revelation, otherwise 
the book of nature may be misread or misinterpreted. 
It certainly is not read by all alike and by some a 
revelation of God in nature is denied. The one who 
has received a revelation of God by word may say^ 
"The heavens declare the glory of God;" but he who 
rejects the revelation by word may look into the 
heavens and say, "There is no God." The grotesque 
ideas of God entertained by heathen peoples show the 
book of nature needs to be supplemented, or rather 
preceded, by an inspired word revelation. 

2. Furthermore, it should be observed that in at 
least one respect the Bible is scientific in method ; 
namely, it adheres to its central purpose, which is to 
give to man a revelation of God. Here it meets a 
scientific requirement. 

Astronomy has its text-books ; geology has its 
books of authority ; the same is true of all the sciences. 
It should be noted, however, that : Works on astron- 
omy do not deal with geology or botany. The scien- 
tific method demands that every scientific treatise 
shall confine itself to its peculiar domain. Books on 
science do not deal with God directly. To do so 
would be a violation of scientific principles. Some 
have objected to the Bible because it does not treat 
of scientific topics. This is an unreasonable and an 



4 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

vinscientific demand. The Bible confines itself to its 
own proper field, and in this respect it is scientific. 

3. In the Bible, God reveals himself to man. A\'e 
learn the attributes of God : omnipotence, omniscience, 
omnipresence, eternity, goodness and love. We learn 
the character of God : pure, merciful, kind, loving, 
longsuffering, tender, gracious. We learn the will 
of God : Since God is the Creator of all things, he is 
the proprietor of the universe and his will is supreme. 
The opposition of any other will to the will of God is, 
therefore, rebellion, and must necessarily entail dire- 
ful consequences, which fact not only the Bible 
teaches, but all experience corroborates. 

Finally, we learn the purposes of God. God's 
purposes are always in perfect harmony with his at- 
tributes and character. If God is omniscient, his pur- 
poses are wise ; if God is loving, his purposes are 
beneficent; if God is righteous, his purposes are just; 
if God is omnipotent; his purposes will not fail of ac- 
complishment. 

4. This Bible is as much greater than any other 
book as the Creator is greater than the creature, the 
Infinite greater than the finite. A study is important 
in proportion to the greatness of its subject-matter, 
and hence Bible study necessarily occupies the su- 
preme place. 

It is strange that any one should grow impatient 
when studying this book. Some can devote hours 
every day to science, mathematics, philosophy or his- 
tory, but begrudge even one hour per week to the 
study of God's word ; and yet no hour can be so well 
spent if judged by the practical results growing out 
of it. No hour will so enrich the mind and so effectu- 
ally prepare it for profitable exercise in every field of 



HISTORIC BELATION TO CIVILIZATION. 5 

study and investigation. Bible study is, therefore, 
not only profitable for its own sake, yielding as it 
does treasures of priceless value, but also for its 
beneficent effects upon the mind itself. It sobers the 
judgment, clarifies the reason, quickens the con- 
science, fortifies the wnll, strengthens the sensibilities, 
gives power of correct vision and keen perspection, 
and, in short, prepares the mind for its highest and 
best activity. 

II. Because of the historic relation of the Bible to 
human progress and civilization. 

1. Christianity exists as a mighty force; it holds 
under its sway the greatest nations of the earth. The 
measure of a nation's Christianity to-day is the meas- 
ure of its civilization. 

This book has more to do with shaping the destiny 
of nations than any other book. God's dealings with 
nations are here disclosed. Here we have recorded 
an account of the molding and modifying influences 
that have operated to change the great currents of 
the world's history. As the history of the race is 
here unfolded in its mighty comprehensive sweep, we 
are enabled to see that 

", , . Behind the dim unknown, 
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own." 

It also descends to the particular and shows us 
how^ God deals with individuals. This feature adds a 
peculiar value and charm. In short, it shows us the 
consequences of both sin and righteousness as they 
are revealed in the history of individuals and nations. 



6 THE WORD OF TRUTH. ' 

2. But not only does the Bible disclose the causes 
that operate in determining national and individual 
character and destiny, but it has shown itself to be 
the potent force that makes for progress in every field 
of human endeavor. Science, arts, literature, govern- 
ment, education, family life, all owe their progress 
and development to the vitalizing and stimulating in- 
fluence of the Bible. Wherever this book has not 
gone there has been no progress during centuries and 
millenniums. If this statement seems to be discred- 
ited by the recent history of Japan, it is a sufficient 
reply to say that Japan has taken the Christian na- 
tions as her model and owes her recent progress, indi- 
rectly at least, to the same cause that has operated in 
the development of her sister nations that she has 
been wise enough to imitate, and her rulers and influ- 
ential men, recognizing this fact and viewing the 
question from an economic standpoint, have lately 
been discussing the wisdom of adopting Christianity 
as the national religion. In short, this whole question 
may be briefly summed up as follows : Wherever the 
Bible has not gone, civilization is at its lowest point 
and progress is not discoverable ; wherever the Bible 
has been taken from the people, or has fallen into 
disuse, a retrograde movement has set in ; and wher- 
ever it has been cherished most and allowed to have 
its fullest eftects, progress has been greatest and 
human conditions most beneficent. 

Whence, when and how did this mighty force 
arise? Wherein lies its power? What is the nature 
of the book that has shown itself able to accomplish 
such prodigious effects? These are questions no edu- 
cated man can afford to ignore. 



AS A BOOK OF HISTORY. 7 

III. Because of the intrinsic value of the Bible as 
a book of history. 

1. It antedates all profane history. It takes up 
its record with creation, and gives us an account 
of the origin of the material universe, the creation 
of all animate forms culminating in the creation of 
man. Then it gives an account of the trial of human 
nature in the first Adam, the fall, the growth of 
Vv'ickedness ending in the destruction of the godless 
world, the preservation of a righteous line through 
Abel, Enoch and Xoah to Abraham. Then it gives a 
history of the development, fates and fortunes of the 
chosen nation that has, perhaps, exerted a greater 
influence upon the world at large than any other 
people. It is safe to say that no more important 
history has ever been penned than the history of the 
nation that sprang from the loins of Abraham. To 
understand the history of Israel is to have a key to 
the understanding of all history. In other words, 
Bible history lies at the focal point of all the great 
historic currents, 

2. It gives us the historic development of three 
great religions, and shows their relations to each 
other ; the patriarchal religion, covering a period of 
many hundreds of years ; the Jewish religion, extend- 
ing over a period of 1,500 years, and Christianity, 
extending from the first Pentecost after Christ's res- 
urrection onward. Each dispensation is distinct, and 
yet all are closely related, being successive steps 
in a great development. Christianity is the final and 
complete system to which the others pointed by type 
and prophecy, and for which they served as a prepara- 
tion in many ways. The Bible, therefore, furnishes 



8 THE WORD OF TRUTH. ' 

us the historic basis and development of the best 
rehgious system the world has seen — God's great plan 
of salvation complete. 

3. It embraces in its scope not only man's origin, 
but his spiritual condition and his eternal destiny. 
It teaches the doctrine of man's celestial origin, de- 
claring him to be the child of God by creation and his 
son by redemption. It reveals to man his condition 
in his unregenerate state, showing to him his sinful- 
ness and helplessness without divine aid. and finally 
it discloses to him the destiny that awaits him in the 
land beyond the grave, giving a graphic picture of 
both the righteous and the wicked in the future world. 

IV. Because the Bible ranks very high from a lit- 
erary standpoint. 

1. Viewed simply as literature, aside from its 
ethical and religious value, the Bible is worthy of 
earnest, thoughtful study. This fact is recognized 
by all persons of sound literary judgment and good 
literary taste. The best speakers and writers read 
and study it for the sake of its matchless style, and all 
who do so are marvelously influenced by such study. 
They show its impress both in the matter and form 
of their productions. One can scarcely read a page 
from one of the English masters without detecting 
the Bible influence in one form or another, and one 
can not listen five minutes to one of the great plat- 
form speakers of the day, whether he be discoursing 
on political, scientific, social, ethical or literary sub- 
jects, without discovering that he is not a stranger 
to the literature of the Bible, as is evidenced by both 
diction and moral tone. 

2. As respects the style of the Biblical writers, the 



FROM A LITERARY STANDPOINT, 9 

greatest variety is exhibited. Some of the writers 
and speakers are matchless for the simplicity of their 
language, which is one of the highest literary quali- 
ties. Chief among these was the great Teacher him- 
self. Nowhere is the maxim of Horace more forcibly 
illustrated than in his teachings. Horace said: "You 
who would write, do it in such a simple manner that 
any one might say, T could do that myself,' but he 
will labor and sweat much if he should attempt it." 
How strikingly true this is of the words of Christ. 
One can but be struck with the simple, unpretentious 
style of the utterances. The flow is so easy and 
natural that any one might hope to be able to talk 
in the same manner, yet who has ever been able to do 
it? As a matter of fact, there is no quality in style 
so difficult of attainment as simplicity, and this is one 
of the striking characteristics of much of the Biblical 
literature. Other portions, however, rise to the 
highest point of sublime rhetorical diction. In bold 
metaphor, apt simile, rich parable, happy illustration, 
it has no equal. This whole matter may be summed 
up in a very brief, yet comprehensive, way. The Bible 
contains some of- the best examples of classic prose 
anywhere to be found — the English Bible is pre- 
eminently the English classic. It contains some of 
the most beautiful gems of poetry that have ever 
been produced — David and Isaiah as poets have never 
been excelled. It furnishes us with some of the best 
examples of oratorical composition to be found in 
any language. In many portions its eloquence is 
truly sublime, the rhetoric being incomparable. The 
finest specimens of impassioned eloquence to be 
found in any language are seen in the Bible. Glow- 
ing description, striking imagery, patriotic fire, fierce 



10 THE WORD OF TRUTH. ' 

invective, wailings of despair and paeans of victory, 
abound. In sliort, for classic composition the Bible 
stands alone and unapproachable. 

V. Because the Bible is incomparable as a book 
of ethics. 

1. Its morality is faultless when properly under- 
stood. Judge it by its practical results, which is the 
only fair test, and all ground of criticism vanishes. 
It has been charged that the Bible encourages polyg- 
amy and yet polygamy lives only in lands where the 
Bible has not gone, or where it has been grossly 
perverted by spurious additions and alterations. It 
has been charged that the Bible supports slavery and 
yet increase of Bible knowledge and the practical 
application of Bible principles destroy slavery in all 
its forms, whether it be political, industrial, or the 
slavery of appetite and lust. As a matter of fact, the 
Bible is very practical in its method of dealing with 
great political and social evils. A\'hile its legislation 
is always above the people, it is never so far above 
them as to make it impossible for them to reach up 
to it in a reasonable time, and in- the meantime it 
simply tolerates what it necessarily takes time to 
cure. Therefore we say, judge it by its ultimate 
ef^'ects rather than by a temporary attitude during a 
transition period. A\'hen this is done, the critic is 
deprived of his weapon of attack. Even wars of 
extermination, which seem in some cases to have 
received divine sanction, can be readily defended on 
high moral grounds. In a time of gross and uni- 
versal idolatry, when, by long practice of its hideous, 
immoral and grossly impure rites and ceremonies, the 
very moral, if not the physical, blood of the nations 



AS A BOOK OF ETHICS. 11 

was polluted by its insidious taint, and when in order 
to a final extermination of the world-wide contagion 
a standing ground had to be secured in the shape of 
at least one little nation that had been cured from 
the universal pest, extermination of peoples con- 
tiguous to this chosen nation whose influence would 
greatly retard if not entirely prevent the attempted 
cure, -seems, even from the human standpoint, to 
have been the only remedy. Here, as elsewhere, 
judge the Bible by the ultimate result rather than by 
some temporary measure of necessity or expediency, 
extreme though it may have been. 

2. But the comprehensiveness of ethical Bible 
teaching is no less wonderful than its high ethical 
character. The duties man owes himself are clearly 
defined and forcibly elaborated, and here is the 
logical beginning place. It is not selfishness to say 
that man's duties to self, in some respects, take the 
precedence of all other duties because he is thereby 
qualified for highest service to others. The senti- 
ment that "He who is not true to self can ne'er be 
true to any man" states a principle universally ap- 
plicable. But not only are the duties to self clearly 
elaborated, but the duties man owes to others are 
also clearly set forth. Here are prescribed the mu- 
tual duties of husband and wife, parents and chil- 
dren, neighbors, citizens and mankind as a whole. 
No relationship is overlooked. 

Finally, the duties man owes to God are specific- 
ally enjoined, which are the highest of all because 
necessarily related to all. In brief, it is the great 
text-book on social, civil and religious law. 

The best codes of law we have to-day are founded 
on the Bible. 



12 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

VI. Because it is pre-eminently a modern book — 
a book always abreast of the age. 

1. True, it is a record of events that happened 
hundreds of years ago, but we do wrong to place a 
long period between us and the Bible. It is a book 
of the present. It is a history of this very time. 
Any other view is superficial and inadequate. Here, 
in a certain sense, I can find my own biography 
written. Here are found the characters all around 
us. Judas, Pilate and Caiaphas, nay, more, Adam. 
Abel, Cain, Noah and Abraham — in short, all the Bible 
characters — are reproduced in the men of to-day. 
Though dead, they not only speak from out the 
pages of sacred history, but by the mouths of their 
living representatives. 

2. Its thoughts and teachings the world has 
never outgrown. Its principles are as applicable now 
as when they were uttered. They are vital, not only 
in the sense of being transcendently important, but 
because they are as fresh as man's latest want. The 
solution of every problem is found as it arises. It 
has been said that "\Miatever rules living men must 
be living.'' Hence the words of the inspired writer, 
"The word of God is living and powerful." The 
intensely modern character of this very ancient book 
is a most wonderfully interesting fact, and at once 
stamps it as a divine book. The world soon out- 
grows any other book except it be from purely lit- 
erary considerations. All climb higher and higher 
on the library shelves until at last they reach the 
highest shelf, where they remain in undisturbed re- 
pose, but the Bible holds its place on the center 
table because its teachings never become effete or 



GOD'S PLAN OF HUMAN REDEMPTION. IS 

obsolete. It is living, modern, up-to-date, yea, ever 
going before the advancing hosts of humanity and 
beckoning onward to ever nobler and higher ideals. 
One of its writers declared, "It doth not yet appear 
what we shall be." In similar speech we may say 
of the Bible, "It doth not yet appear what it shall 
be or what it shall teach." The doctrine will, in a 
very important sense, be determined by the problems 
that shall arise. The true preacher always has a 
fresh sermon albeit it is drawn from the same old 
arsenal of supply. It is an inexhaustible storehouse, 
or, to change the figure, a perenni.al fountain. It 
will never run dry. It was the book of our fathers 
and solved their problems. It is our book, and shows 
no inadequacy in meeting our burning questions, and 
it will be the book of our children and will meet 
their most insistent inquiries with satisfying power. 

VII. Because it reveals God*s plan of human 
redemption. 

1. Man might have learned that he is sick, but 
he could not have learned the nature and conse- 
quences of his disease nor could have discovered the 
remedy. God's revelation comes to reveal man to 
himself. Jesus said, "When he [the Holy Spirit] is 
come he will convince the world of sin." True, in 
this language he referred to the specific sin of re- 
jecting the Messiah, but back of all specific acts of 
sin lies the terrible fact of human depravity. Jesus 
taught that from within out of the heart proceed sinful 
acts. The Bible recognizes the fact of sin from its 
very beginning onward, and it gives us a very dark 
picture of man under its dominion. This is a neces- 
sary thing for at least two reasons : Sin is the funda- 



14 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

mental malady, the fruitful source of all other evils. 
There is nothing that afflicts mankind, no physical 
malady, no adverse social or political conditions but 
what can be ultimately traced to the awful fact of 
sin. In the second place, be it observed that until 
this fact is recognized man will not desire an escape 
from the dominion of sin, and until such desire arises 
man will remain willingly under its power. He will 
hug the chain that binds him and remain a voluntary 
slave. Slavery that is recognized and from which 
the soul revolts is a truly deplorable state, but when 
a man loves his. bondage and glories in his shame, 
his condition is hopeless indeed. 

2. But the Bible not only reveals the fact of sin, 
but it also discloses the remedy. The antidote for 
sin is clearly pointed out, and it can be learned no- 
where else. Nature has furnished no alembic to 
purify man from the taint of sin. All remedial 
schemes of man's devising have proven utterly futile. 
The greatest minds the world has known have ex- 
pended their energies on the solution of the problem, 
but all in vain. The great races and nations under 
the tutelage of their master minds have sunk lower 
and lower in moral degradation and shame, even 
though in some cases great intellectual development 
was secured. Greece presents such an example, yet 
Grecian culture and philosophy failed to secure moral 
elevation and purity. The world after repeated fail- 
ures became bankrupt in hope and faith, and settled 
down to a condition bordering on despair. The 
greatest minds had demonstrated their utter inability 
to solve the problem, when God's great remedial 
scheme was introduced into the world. The Bible 
gives a history of the development of this scheme, 



TAKES A LARGE VIEW OF MAN. 15 

beginning in the family religion of the patriarchs, 
and proceeding onward throughout the national re- 
ligion of the Israelites, and cujminating in the uni- 
versal religion of Christ. In the first two sin was 
not actually, but only prospectively, removed, but in 
the latter remission was complete, which fact the 
prophet foretold in the language: ''Their sins and 
their iniquities I will remember no more." This 
fact stands in contrast with the remembering again 
of sin every year under the old dispensation. The 
annual sacrifices of the first two were therefore not 
efficacious for the removal of sin, but merely pro- 
phetic and symbolic of the great and efficacious sac- 
rifice made by Christ on Calvary. In this sacrifice 
we find the meritorious cause of remission of sins, 
the procuring cause lying in the conditions divinely 
imposed under the new dispensation. 

VIII. Because the Bible takes a large and en- 
nobling view of man. 

1. Various standards of human greatness have 
been set up, such as riches, wisdom, power. By 
these standards human greatness is regarded simply 
as an accident that may or may not attach to the 
individual. This view of man has always tended to 
his debasement. 

Jesus taught a very different doctrine. He said, 
''What would it profit if a man should gain the whole 
world and lose his own soul?" He might gain 
wealth, wisdom or power, and still have lost that 
which is of far greater value — the soul itself. It will 
at once be seen that the Bible makes human great- 
ness an intrinsic, inherent quality, Man is great 
because he is man, and not by virtue of the accident 



16 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

of wealth, or power, or wisdom. Furthermore, the 
Bible dignifies man in his origin, nature and destiny. 
This view of man has always tended to his elevation. 
It must necessarily ahvays do so. 

If man is a child of the King it behooves him to 
show himself worthy of his celestial origin. If he 
may be made partaker of the divine nature, his heart 
being made the abode of the divine Spirit, it behooves 
him to qualify himself for such heavenly fellowship. 
If he is destined to eternal companionship with God 
and celestial beings, it behooves him to prepare him- 
self for such exalted associations. 

The Bible view of man stands in direct antagonism 
to the view presented in materialistic philosophy. 
The latter regards man as having sprung from the 
earth and destined to return to earth again. ''Earth 
to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust." This ex- 
presses the materialistic view of the origin and end 
of man. The Bible, however, begins the circle, not 
in earth, but in heaven ; thence sweeping downward 
it touches earth and then circles back to heaven again. 
*'The body returns to earth, but the spirit returns to 
God who gave it." The part that returns to earth is 
not the man, but only the tenement of clay in which 
the man dwells. The real man begins and ends in 
heaven. This, at least, is the origin of all and the 
end of many, and, potentially, the end of all. To 
fail of this attainment is to fall short of the highest 
possibilities. 

IX. Because the Bible discloses the only practical 
way of teaching men. 

1. Man can not learn by simple abstract state- 
ment. AA> must have truth in the concrete before 



PRACTICAL WAY OF TEACHING MEN. 17 

we comprehend it fully. The Bible is a book that 
presents a truth in the concrete. It shows us what 
sin is by giving us a view of sinful men; what right- 
eousness IS by causing righteous men to pass in 
review before us. More important than all, the great 
central figure in the Bible is a divine incarnation. 
God gives us an understanding of himself by incar- 
nating himself. The doctrine of the incarnation is 
not only a theological, but a psychological, doctrine. 
It is reasonable because it is grounded in the very 
nature of the soul. Man is influenced first and most 
by the concrete presentation of truth. He reaches 
the abstract through the concrete. The differentia- 
ting feature of the Christian system is the fact that 
the personality of its Founder is the paramount ques- 
tion. The great question is, "What think ye of 
Christ? Whose Son is he?" rather than, ''What 
does he teach?" It is the former that gives impor- 
tance to the latter. "His life was the light of men." 
This is true because man is so constituted that light 
is best imparted through life, which is another way 
of saying that man learns best through the concrete. 
The deepest and most lasting impressions are made 
by life rather than by dogma. Therefore, to preach 
Jesus is to preach a living, reigning person, and I 
may add that the next thing in order of importance 
is the personality of the preacher or teacher. What 
the teacher is is vastly more important than what 
the teachei knows, for no amount of knowledge can 
take the place of a true, forceful personality. If this 
principle were understood, a new standard of ortho- 
doxy would be set up. The righteous, godly man 
would be the truly orthodox man, and the wicked, 
ungodly man would be the heterodox man. Men 



18 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

who reject the doctrine of incarnation show not only 
their theological ignorance, but lack of psychological 
knowledge. They understand neither the mental pecu- 
liarities of man nor the nature of the Christian 
religion. 

2. It follows, therefore, that^ as teachers, we 
must observe the same great and necessary law. No 
mian is a strong teacher who does not incarnate his 
teaching. He must be a concrete representation of 
his doctrine. His life must be the light of men. Xo 
amount of knowledge can take the place of life. He 
must be first a man to be a real teacher. 

As Christians we must observe the same rule. 
Incarnate Christianity will convert the world ; theo- 
retic Christianity alone never can do so. The 
dogmatism of word must be accompanied by the 
dogmatism of action. The man who is saved, as is 
evidenced by his life, must present the gospel that 
saves, and this gospel will be a divine incarnation 
rather than a system composed of doctrinal tenets. 
In the light of these facts the meaning of Paul is 
clear when he says, 'T determined to know nothing 
among you but Jesus and him crucified." I am 
therefore convinced that the best text-book on 
pedagogy is the Bible, and consequently no book is 
so important to the teacher as is this book. 

X. Because the Bible exercises quickening and 
transforming pow^er in the hearts and lives of men. 

1. "The entrance of thy word giveth life" is a 
statement amply attested in human experience. The 
Bible has been the great soul quickener, which is a 
fact readily accounted for. The Bible is a revelation, 
not only from God, but of God, and no idea has 



HAS POWER TO SUSTAIN THE SOUL. 19 

such stimulating and transforming power as the God 
idea. God is the needed portion of the soul and to 
reveal God to the soul is to satisfy its deepest yearn- 
ings. ''Lord, show us the Father and it sufficeth 
us," expresses a deep and abiding truth. The great 
object of the incarnation was to bring God in the 
fullest way w^ithin the range of the human under- 
standing for the sake of its transforming power, 
hence Jesus said, "He that hath seen me hath seen 
the Father." 

2. All true development begins with God, be-^ 
cause there can be no true development while the 
heart is full of evil, and to take in God is to drive 
out the evil from the soul. The heart is purified by 
loving a pure person rather than by believing true 
doctrines. True doctrine is important, to be sure, 
but true doctrine may be, and unfortunately often is,, 
entertained by impure minds, but when the heart 
lays hold of a pure person the greatest purifying and 
transforming power has been apprehended. No one 
can truly love a pure person without being made 
better, and to truly love the infinitely pure and holy 
God is to be purified in soul and made meet for the 
inheritance of the saints in light. Hence, when Jesus 
w^as asked which was the greatest commandment, he 
replied, ''Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy might and mind and strength." 

XI. Because the Bible has power to sustain the 
soul amidst the deepest trials and afflictions of life. 

1. One of the most universal experiences of life 
is that of sorrow. Whatever else we may or may" 
not do, sooner or later we will all of us weep. Scot- 
land's greatest poet well says: 



^0 TEE WOBD OF TRUTH. ■ 

"I've seen yon weary winter sun 
Twice forty times return ; 
And every time has added proof 
That man was made to mourn." 

Here is the common meeting-ground of humanity. 
Riches, powder, education, social position or many 
other occasions of advantage may come to some, but 
they are denied to many, and even the fortunate ones 
are not exempt from loss ; sooner or later the hearts 
of all will be saddened by disappointment, burdened 
Avith sorrow^ or wrung with anguish. 

2. But we must not, therefore, imagine that sor- 
row is an awful disaster out of which no good can 
possibly come, for the Bible unites Avith universal 
experience in teaching the beneficent ministry of pain 
and sorrow. Unbroken prosperity often, yea, gen- 
erally, produces disastrous results. The heart is 
made hard and selfish and cruel. Adversity is fre- 
cjuently the individual's best friend. Sorrow is often 
a blessing in disguise. As a matter of fact, the best 
and noblest qualities of mind and heart are developed 
in the school of pain and misfortune. The noblest 
examples of manhood and womanhood the world has 
known have been purified in the furnace of sorrow 
and affliction. 

3. \A hat man needs is not exemption from the 
hardness that attaches to the lot of the many, for 
then the conditions of the highest and best develop- 
ment would be taken away, but rather some stay 
and support Avhen the burden seems unsupportable. 
Some comforting assurance, when sorrow and despair 
seem too great for human endurance ; some sure 
anchor for the soul when the tumultuous billows of 
adversity seem ready to engulf it in hopeless destruc- 



THE WORLD BEYOND THE GRAVE. 21 

tion and ruin. The Bible is the one book that meets 
this great want. It teaches that all things may be 
made to work for good to the soul ; that adversity 
may be made a stepping-stone by which to rise into 
greater and nobler life; that misfortunes may be 
made rounds in a golden ladder on which the indi- 
vidual m.ay mount upward to ever greater and 
grander heights. It tells us that "our light afflic- 
tions are but for a moment," and that they "work 
out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight 
of glory." There is no dungeon of sorrow too dark 
for it to illumine, and no prison of despair too 
strong for it to open. It takes away even the sting 
of death and robs the grave of its victory. 

XII. Because the Bible is the only telescope that 
reveals the world beyond the grave. 

1. Of all the vast unnumbered throng that have 
passed through the grim portal into the world that 
lies beyond the confines of time and sense, no voice 
has come back to tell us of what we so much desire 
to know. No traveler has ever returned to enlighten 
us concerning that country into which many of our 
friends and loved ones have already gone, and many 
more will soon go, and whither all of us are as- 
suredly tending. Nature may give hints; the spring, 
the butterfl3% the plant springing from the seed — all 
this may be beautifully suggestive, but it amounts to 
no more than a probability. Even the yearning for 
a future life is only a hint of what may be. Nature 
gives no certain answer. 

2. Jesus, however, speaks with assurance. 'T am 
the resurrection and the life." *T go to prepare a 
place for 3^ou/' "I will come again and receive you 



22 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

unto myself." He raised the dead, and finally over- 
came death in a personal encounter and triumphantly 
rose from the grave. This enables us to say, "O 
death, w^here is thy sting? O grave, where is thy 
victory?" Here we have certainty. Here the most 
burning question is answered. 

3. In the Book of Revelation we have a picture 
of man redeemed. "These which are arrayed in the 
white robes, who are they, and whence came they? 
. . . These are they which came out of great tribu- 
lation, and they washed their robes, and made them 
white in the blood of the Lamb." As this bright 
picture is revealed to us, we say it is enough. Noth- 
ing more is needed. The gloom of the grave is 
dispelled by the glorious light of immortality. 



CHAPTER II. 
The Bible as a Whole. 

1. There must be a starting-point in every investi- 
gation. In this study of the Scriptures we begin vv^ith 
God for tv^o reasons: This is the easiest beginning 
place. It is much easier to believe in God than to ex- 
plain existing phenomena w^ithout God. It is also the 
most satisfactory beginning place. God is a sufficient 
explanation of all existing things. We do not get rid 
of mystery, but v^e practically exchange all mysteries 
for one mystery. Without God the simplest things in 
nature are mysteries ; v^ith God we have an adequate 
explanation of all things."^ 

2. The existence of God being assumed (by this we 
do not mean that his existence can not be proven, but 
that, for the present, we do not enter upon that inves- 
tigation), it is antecedently probable that he has. 
spoken to man. If God exists, he is certainly the 
Creator of all things, and consequently man is: 
his creature, having powers of thought andl 
speech. God can not be inferior to his creature, 
and hence he can speak. It is therefore probable 
that God has spoken. To deny that God has spoken, 
logically leads to a denial of God. Atheism is the 
necessary goal of all who deny the possibility of a 
divine revelation. The course of reasoning that leads 
to this conclusion is very short and simple. But three 
suppositions are possible : First, one may say, "God 



* Parker's "People's Bible," volume on Genesis. 

23 



24 THE WOBI) OF TRUTH. ■ 

can speak, but will not.'' This, however, would be to 
impeach God's goodness. Man yearns for God. 
''Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us," was 
the request made by Philip of his Master, and in this 
request he expressed a universal desire. Paul spoke of 
the Athenians feeling after God. All the attempts of 
men to bridge over the chasm between man and God 
give expression to this world-wide desire. If God can 
answer this desire and will not, his goodness stands 
impeached. Second, one may say, ''God will speak, but 
can not." This it will be seen at once impeaches 
God's power. It makes him inferior to man, his crea- 
ture. Third, one may say, "God can and will speak." 
This is the only alternative left, and since the other 
two alternatives can not be admitted, it follows that 
it must be true. Deny this and atheism is the only 
resort left. If God can and will speak, then he has 
spoken. If he has not spoken, then there is no God. 
3. \\'e accordingly are not surprised, to find that 
the Bible claims divine authorship. Paul says, "All 
scripture is given by inspiration of God." In Hebrews 
we read : "God having of old time spoken unto the 
fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers 
manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us 
in his Son " Jesus said, ''He that hath seen me hath 
seen the Father." These quotations might be mul- 
tiplied at almost any length. The Bible claims to be 
the word of God from beginning to end. Two facts 
are worthy of note just here: There is nothing in the 
book, when properly understood, to invalidate this 
claim. That is, there is no incongruity between the 
claim and the book itself. There is everything in the 
book to justify this claim. Its language, its purpose, 
its facts, -its thought, are worthy of God. 



THE QUESTION OF INSPIRATION. 25 

In studying this book as a whole, let us consider: 

I. The question of inspiration. 

The claim of inspiration is boldly put forth by the 
Biblical writers, and in so doing they meet an ante- 
cedent probability and a reasonable expectation on the 
part of man. This leads naturally to the inquiry: 
What is inspiration? 

Often the challenge is made by rationalists for a 
definition such as will cover all of the facts and not 
more than is warranted. Furthermore, there is a long- 
standing controversy between the advocates of verbal 
inspiration and the believers in thought inspiration, 
the former contending that the exact words of Scrip- 
ture are dictated by the Spirit of God, while the lat- 
ter contend that inspiration is a mental illumination 
by the Divine Spirit, supernatural in character, ena- 
bling the agent to grasp the truth to be revealed of 
whatever nature it may have been, whether historical, 
legal, didactic or prophetic, but leaving him free to 
express the message in his own way. 

I am inclined to think that both contentions are 
true within certain limits. The facts as revealed in 
the Scriptures seem to show that certain passages are 
verbally inspired, while much larger portions are the 
result of thought inspiration or miraculous mental il- 
lumination. 

I herewith submit a few definitions of inspiration, 
the first being the best expression which I am capable 
of giving of the view of Christian evolutionists, 
so called, and of the advocates of the divisive hypoth- 
esis, for they are practically the same, the others 
being definitions formulated by members of my ad- 
vanced class in homiletics,. 



26 TEE WORD OF TRUTH, . 

1. Inspiration is the influence upon thought and 
speech of the resident divine factor in man, but more 
especially in the Hebrew race, since there the divine 
factor was most pronounced or most fully developed, 
and consequently in that race the clearest and fullest 
conception of God and religion existed. 

This idea makes the inspiration of the Bible the 
same in kind as the inspiration of any other book that 
might be named, the difference being one of degree 
merely. 

2. Inspiration is the supernatural influence of the 
Spirit of God acting upon a writer or speaker whereby 
he is enabled and led to proclaim the divine message, 
and is so guided that substantial accuracy is assured. 

3. Inspiration is the influence of the Divine Spirit 
upon the prophets, guiding them in giving the message 
of God as he wills it; whether in specified language, in 
thought, or in the selection of material derived from 
human sources 

4. Inspiration is a miraculous influence which en- 
ables men to receive divine truth, whether by direct 
word of God or by inward suggestion, or by ministra- 
tion of angels, or by means of dreams and visions, 
or, as Paul says, "in divers manners," and to communi- 
cate the same. 

Summary. 

Inspiration, as applied to the Scriptures of the Old 
and New Testaments, is such a divine illumination 
and guidance ol the mind of the chosen agent as 
enabled him to reveal past history otherwise unknown, 
to select from existing material that which is true and 
suited to the divine purpose in revelation, to reject 
from material at his command or from the facts in his 



NAMES GIVEN SACRED WRITINGS. 27 

own knowledge such things as were not germane to 
that purpose, to stimulate memory to recall necessary 
truth that otherwise would have been lost, and to 
communicate new truth necessary for man's salvation 
and instruction and not discoverable by the natural 
unaided powers of the human mind. 

Condensed Summary. 

Inspiration is a special miraculous illumination and 
guidance of the mind of the chosen agent, enabling 
him to communicate the divine message, whether his- 
torical, legal, didactic or prophetic, either in words 
dictated by the divine person or in his own language. 

In studying this book as a whole let us consider: 

II. The names given to the Sacred Writings. 

1. "The Bible:" This means, The Book. It is the 
Book of books. It is not, however, a single book, but 
a collection of writings usually bound together in one 
volume. If the Bible is what it claims to be, then it 
is pre-eminently The Book. In purpose, matter and 
importance, it stands alone and unapproachable. 

2. * The word of God:" So called because it con- 
tains God's word. It is a revelation of God's will. 
Sometimes God speaks directly to man, sometimes 
through men, sometimes through angels. But wheth- 
er the divine communication comes direct from God 
or through men or through angels it is essentially the 
word of God. This does not mean that every word in 
the Bible is the word of God. We have in some in- 
stances the words of uninspired men, yea, even of 
very bad men, and in some instances we have the 
words of Satan recorded. It does mean, however, that 
the Bible contains the word of God, and that it reveals 



28 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

God — his character, purposes and plans. Hence the 
designation, ''The Word of God," is entirely appro- 
priate. 

3. "The Scriptures," or "The Sacred Scriptures:" 
The original documents from which our translations 
are made were written with a pen or stylus ; hence they 
are called scriptures, from the Latin scriho, I write. 
They are called sacred because they are of divine 
origin. 

4. "The Canon" or "Sacred Canon :" The books 
that are decided to be of divine origin, and hence in- 
spired, constitute what is called the Canon. This 
word is used to distinguish the inspired waitings from 
certain apocryphal writings which are not inspired, 
also to distinguish them from all profane or secular 
writings. 

Other names, such as "the sacred writings," "the 
inspired writings," etc., are used, but all mean sub- 
stantially the same as the foregoing names. 

All of these names are properly used by believers 
in inspiration. Those who deny the inspiration of the 
Bible are estopped from using any of these designa- 
tions. If the Bible is not the word of God, or if it 
does not contain the word of God in a very special 
sense, then it is not the Bible, or the book, but a book. 
It is not the word of God any more than the works 
of Shakespeare or Milton are the word of God. It 
is not the Scriptures any more than the tablets con- 
taining the cuneiform inscriptions, dug from the buried 
Oriental cities, are the Scriptures. It is not the canon 
or sacred canon, because there is no such thing as a 
sacred canon or list of inspired books, and all Avritings 
making such claims are a fraud and the rules by which 
the canon has been decided upon must manifestly be 



PECULIARITIES OF THE BIBLE. 29' 

untrustworthy. These names presuppose faith in the 
divinity of the Scriptures. 

III. Some of the important and striking peculiar- 
ities of the Bible. 

1. There is a marvelous unity notwithstanding the 
wonderful variety that characterizes the book. This 
variety is shown in two principal ways: (1) Variety 
in authorship. Between thirty and forty different au- 
thors have contributed to the Bible, differing in the 
widest possible extremes in circumstances, condition, 
culture, etc. Kings, emperors, princes, poets, sages, 
philosophers, fishermen, statesmen, herdsmen, tax- 
gatherers, rich men, poor men, exiles, captains, 
legislators and judges have all contributed words, or 
written portions of this book. These men were of dif- 
ferent stations, different habits of thought and feeling,. 
different surroundings, different education, and living 
in widely different ages. Each writer has maintained 
his own individuality and peculiarity of style. (2) 
Variety in subject-matter. We have in the Bible^ 
marvelously blended, history, narrative, genealogy, 
ethnology, law, ethics, sanitary science, political 
economy, prophecy, proverbs, parables, letters, con- 
fessions, prayers, weaknesses, falls, recoveries, inward 
experiences, chronicles, military records, portraits of 
God, of angels, of good men, of bad men, visions, 
dreams, counsels, maxims of life, judgments of God, 
threatenings, punishments, sacred songs, patriotic 
songs, private life, social life, national life, domestic 
life in every station from the peasant to the king; in 
short, the Bible is a perfect storehouse of knowledge 
of almost infinite variety. Notwithstanding this, there 
is a substantial unity and harmony running through 



30 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

the whole. It is, in fact, one book. The unity of the 
Bible is one of the most obvious facts connected with 
it. It can not be mistaken. Even the most super- 
ficial reader can scarcely fail to discover it. One 
great purpose runs through it from beginning to end, 
and to the realization of this purpose everything is 
made to contribute. One great philanthropic spirit 
pervades the whole, and the same high moral tone 
runs throughout. True, the moral standard rises to 
higher and higher levels in the successive portions, 
but.it is a difference in degree rather than in kind. It 
is such difference as is seen in the boy, the youth and 
the man which does not destroy the identity of the 
individual. 

This fact of unity in such a book, composed in such 
a way, is sufficient to substantiate the claim of divine 
authorship. 

2. There is an orderly development in revelation. 
God's message is adapted to the people and the age. 
In order to understand it we must know : Who 
speaks, to whom the language is addressed, the sub- 
ject under consideration, and the circumstances calling 
forth the language. By taking God's dealings with 
men as exemplified in his laws, principles, providences 
and judgments, out of their proper setting as to pur- 
pose, persons, time, place, and concomitant circum- 
stances, great injustice has been done to revelation. 
No other book is treated in this way by fair-minded 
people, and yet some who would indignantly resent 
the charge of unfairness do not hesitate to treat the 
Bible so. The gradual increase in the light shed forth, 
that is, in the fullness of revelation, the gradual rise 
in moral tone and ethical standards, the gradual un- 
folding of the great purpose which is but dimly fore- 



PECULIARITIES OF TEE BIBLE. 31 

shadowed in the beginning of the book, all combine 
to give the Bible a wonderful charm and to make it 
a wonderfully instructive and practical book. 

3. There is remarkable accuracy of statement. All 
late discoveries tend to corroborate Bible statement. 
The errors that have been cited are chiefly verbal, and 
do not impair the trustworthy character of the Scrip- 
tures. It is, perhaps, perfectly safe to say that for 
accuracy of statement no book can be compared with 
the Bible. When the Encyclopedia Britannica was 
published the inaccuracies in American geography and 
topography were so abundant that it was thought 
necessary to publish a revised American edition. 
Tacitus' Germania is so full of inaccuracies that it 
has been held by some that Tacitus could not have 
been the author. The works of Herodotus, Xenophon 
and Caesar are characterized by inaccuracies to a 
greater or less degree. Modern guide-books are nearly 
all faulty in their geography and topography. When 
all this is considered, the accuracy of Biblical state- 
ment stands as a unique and wonderful fact strongly 
suggestive of the inspiration of the writers ; if not, 
certainly indicative of their very extreme carefulness. 

4. The candor and truthfulness of the sacred 
writers is a conspicuous fact. They are true to facts, 
no matter who may suffer. There is no attempt to 
cover up the faults of the Bible heroes. In this char- 
acteristic the Bible is indeed a peculiar book. The 
tendency in all biographical writers is to give dis- 
torted views of their characters by omitting disagree- 
able facts and peculiarities and overstating the virtues. 
but this can not be charged against the Bible writers. 
The faults and foibles, yea, the glaring sins of the 
great Bible heroes, are made to stand out in bold re- 



32 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

lief. This fact ought to give great confidence in the 
Biblical statements. 

5. The high ethicai purpose and standard is very 
noticeable. There is a lofty moral purpose every- 
where apparent, and a majestic upward movement 
toward the highest standards of character. Conse- 
quently, the Bible has always been an elevating force. 
There is no letting down of moral standard at any 
point. If immoral things are recorded, it is never 
with approval. If wrong-doing is tolerated, it is only 
because the people, at a given time, are not far enough 
advanced for the highest standards, and the great 
moral principles that are enunciated finally correct 
the evils which may for a time have received tolera- 
tion, as a merely temporary policy. Xo man can 
seriously read the Bible without receiving a great 
moral uplift. 

6. The superhuman character of many of its utter- 
ances and facts can not be successfully contested. It 
enters boldly the region that lies beyond the ken of 
human knowledge. It speaks with perfect assurance 
of spiritual things. Many of the facts with which it 
deals are clearly miraculous. The miraculous element 
in the Bible can not be eliminated without destroying 
the Book. To apologize for this element is always an 
evidence of weakness and lack of faith. Jesus Christ, 
the great central figure of the Bible, is a stupendous 
miracle. He is "God manifest in the flesh." This is 
the most satisfactory explanation that has ever been 
given of him. In fact, no other adequate explanation 
has ever been offered, and we may safely conclude 
that it can not be done. 

Why, we may reasonably ask, can any one object 
to the miraculous? Atheism demands much greater 



PECULIARITIES OF THE BIBLE. 33 

credulity than Theism. In other words, Theism is 
by far the easier doctrine. Let the God idea be ac- 
cepted and miracle meets the natural expectation that 
arises. Surely he who is the author of nature can 
work independent of natural laws. The superhuman 
character of the Bible meets, therefore, a reasonable, 
nay, shall I not say a necessary, expectation. To me 
it is always a painful sight to see a professedly 
Christian man trying to rationalize the miracles of the 
Bible or explain them away. Let no one imagine that 
the claims of the Bible would be strengthened, or 
reverence for it increased, by elimmating the miracu- 
lous element. In the very nature of the case the 
miraculous is demanded in a book that claims to be a 
revelation from God. And the Bible meets this just 
demand. 

7. The completeness of revelation is also one of its 
peculiarities. There is no question of the human heart 
that is not met and answered in the most satisfactory 
way; at least, no vital question. There may be ques- 
tions prompted by curiosity that the Bible does not 
answer; but those questions that relate to human na- 
ture, human responsibility, human relationship, and 
human destiny, are all answered plainly and unequivo- 
cally. We feel that when the Bible has spoken, 
nothing more need be said. Every burning question 
of man has been anticipated and answered. 

8. The satisfying nature of revelation is also a most 
gratifying, precious fact. It is wonderful how dear 
the Bible becomes to the earnest, faithful, prayerful 
student. He would give up his life before he would 
part with it. No other book has such a hold on the 
affections of man, and consequently no ot4ier book has 
such an influence upon the world. 



34 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

9 The omissions of the Bible are significant and 
suggestive. Skeptics have called attention to the large 
breaks that are discoverable, and have cited them 
as objections to the book and as in a sense discrediting 
the idea of revelation. For instance, the life of Moses 
v^hile in Eg3^pt. The full history of the wilderness 
march and the history of the early life of Jesus may 
be cited as examples. This, however, instead of being 
an objection to revelation, is an evidence to the direct- 
ness and singleness of purpose that is found in the 
volume. Nothing is introduced as a mere matter of 
instruction or for the gratification of curiosity, no 
matter how interesting such history might be. The 
great purpose of God moves majestically onward to its 
accomplishment, and w^hatever does not contribute to 
the working out oi that purpose is omitted. 

10. The perennial freshness of the Bible is a most 
wonderful fact. One would naturally think that a 
book that was completed eighteen hundred years ago, 
and that has been read and studied as no other book 
has been, would have lost its interest for mankind, 
but not so. It is alive with new interest for each 
succeedmg generation of men. Xew truths are con- 
tinually coming to light. Xew sermons shine forth 
from old, familiar texts for the earnest student. Surely 
such a book must have been written by the finger of 
God 

11. The simplicity of the Bible combined with its 
sublimity is a striking peculiarity. There is a sub- 
limity in Bible phraseology that makes it stand out as 
a peculiar book It has exercised great influence upon 
the literature of the world; whenever you hear Bible 
phraseology you will never be lost to recognize it. 
There is ever in it the majesty of God, and yet it 



PECULIARITIES OF THE BIBLE. 85 

is so simple and direct that it appeais to the under- 
standing of the unlettered man. It is pre-eminently 
the people's book because of its simplicity, and this 
simplicity reached its very climax in the greatest 
teacher that ever stood upon the earth, of whom it 
was said : "The common people heard him gladly." 

12. The largeness everywhere seen in the Bible con- 
stitutes one of its most interesting features. There is an 
atmosphere of bigness that is unmistakable. It is the 
foe of narrowness. Its conceptions are large, its plans 
godlike, and its words comprehensive. 'The world," 
"all nations," "every creature," "the whole creation," 
"whosoever will" — these are some of the terms and 
phrases that indicate the comprehensive purpose and 
plan of the sacred Book. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Bible Divided into Old and New 
Testaments. 

The broadest analysis of the Bible results from sepa- 
rating it into two great divisions known respectively 
as *'The Old Testament" and ''The New Testament." 
Three words here stimulate inquiry : Why are these 
divisions called Testaments? \A'hy is one called Old 
and the other New? 

The answer to these questions will become very 
plain by an analysis, such as necessarily precedes all 
rational attempts to separate the Bible into logical 
divisions that have a basis in the subject-matter and are 
consequently natural and real and not artificial or me- 
chanical, much less visionary and fanciful. 

I. The meaning of the term "analysis" and the na- 
ture of the process must be clearly apprehended. 

1. To give the best definition of which I am ca- 
pable, I would say, ''Analysis" is the resolution of 
anything, whether an object of the senses or a product 
of the intellect, into its elements or component parts. 
It follows from this definition that only things of 
composite character can be logically analyzed. For 
example, water, being a compound, can be separated 
into its elements, hydrogen and oxygen, but oxygen 
and hydrogen can not be analyzed. A tree, being com- 
plex, can be separated according to its physical parts 
36 



MEANING OF '' ANALYSIS/' 37 

into roots, trunk, branches ; or the wood might be 
separated into its chemical elements. An essay may 
be divided according to its elementary thought parts, 
into words, paragraphs and sentences ; or it may be 
dividea according to its larger thought parts, into 
introduction, argument and conclusion; or according 
to the manner of expression, into literal and figurative 
language. 

It is evident, therefore, that analysis is of two 
kinds : physical, which is the separation of a physical 
object into its parts; and logical, which is a resolution 
in the mind of complex thought products. 

2. Analysis is accomplished by a series of divisions 
and subdivisions made according to some principle, 
which serves as a wedge to divide the term or proposi- 
tion. Elements and even compounds may be divided 
into physical parts when no particular principle is 
employed, but this is not analysis, properly speaking; 
it is simply physical division or partition. Logical 
analysis is a mental process. Some principle of di- 
vision must be employed, and there will be as many 
analyses as there are different principles of division 
called into use. The same principle must be main- 
tained throughout any given analysis. To change the 
principle would lead to incongruous and bewildering 
results. Mankind may be divided according to race, 
nationality, religion, color, condition, etc., but no two 
principles can be used in the same analysis without 
confusion. It would be illogical to say mankind is 
composed of Americans, Jews and white men, for the 
reason that a different principle is used with each di- 
vision. 

A perfect knowledge of any given object of sense 
or thought would demand that every possible logical 



38 THE WOBB OF TRUTH. , 

principle be used as a principle of division, but our 
investigations usually stop short of the possible limit 
of analysis. We continue the divisions and subdi- 
visions until the object w^e have in view is attained. 

3. The Bible as a book furnishes a large field for 
the application of this process. By its nature it is 
peculiarly adapted to the work of analysis. It is pre- 
eminently a composite book. There are many authors 
and many subjects. The different portions show many 
differences in style and literary character. Although 
there is one great general purpose in the w^hole, yet 
the subordinate purposes of the various books, and 
even of different parts of the same book, in many 
cases show great variety. Hence it is that Bible 
analysis is a very large subject. He who thoroughly 
masters it must necessarily become a profound Bible 
scholar. 

Analysis as a process or method for the acquisition 
of knowledge is of very great value. It gives one 
breadth of view as well as detailed knowledge, and 
perhaps there is no field in which it can be applied 
with more beneficent results than in the field of Bib- 
lical literature. Formerly in the popular mind it was 
not supposed ^that the Bible had divisions. All parts 
were supposed to be of equal value, all intended for 
the same purpose, and consequently it w^as not 
studied as any other book, which in reality means 
that it was not studied at all. The thing called Bible 
study in many cases was a mere groping in the dark. 
A feeling after something that was not very clear in 
the mind of the searcher, without any idea as to where 
it might be found. Intelligent Bible analysis is, how- 
ever, a very different process and leads to very differ- 
ent results. 



TWO GRAND DIVISIONS. 39 

it is not our purpose in this discussion to attempt 
anything like an exhaustive analysis of the Bible, since 
this is a process that may be carried to almost any 
length, but merely to employ those principles of analy- 
sis that will separate the Bible into its larger and 
more general divisions, such as will serve as a basis 
for more detailed analysis and closer study. 

II. "Will" or ''Testament" being taken as the 
principle of analysis, two grand divisions of the Bible 
are obtained. 

1. A clear idea of the meaning of the word 
''testament" is of great importance. In many cases 
"will" and "testament" are used as synonyms. 
More critically, however, the "testament" is the 
formal expression of the "will." The formal 
expression of God's will, or the declaration of 
the plan or conditions on which God proposes 
certain blessings, is called a "testament." The word 
rendered "testament" is also rendered "covenant," and 
these are often used interchangeably without any real 
distinction in meaning. 

Strictly speaking, the word "covenant" brings into 
view the conditions upon which the blessings con- 
templated in the "will" or "testament" may be en- 
joyed. These words always contemplate two parties, 
the one making the will and the beneficiaries of the 
will and in the word "covenant" especially the idea 
of compact or agreement is contained. That is, the 
beneficiaries agree to the conditions of the will. In 
Bible usage the contracting parties are God on the 
one side, and man on the other, but the covenant 
originates with God and is consequently a matter of 
grace. 



40 TBE WORD OF TRUTH. 

2. A consideration of the number, subjects and 
relations of the various covenants contributes directly 
to an understanding of this question. Alexander 
Campbell remarks that 'man is a covenant creature ;" 
that "covenants have gone hand in hand with man 
from th.e beginning;" that "God's plan has been to 
grant to man a charter from time to time, setting 
forth his relation to his creature and the obligations 
due from man." The number of the covenants is 
variously given; some say, eight; some, nine; some, 
more. This difference arises from the fact that cer- 
tain covenants are omitted by some on the ground 
that they are mere repetitions, and others on the 
ground that they are included in, or are the outgrowth 
of, a more comprehensive covenant. 

The covenants may be enumerated as follows : 

(1) The covenant with Adam, guaranteeing 
progeny, the means of life for man and beast, and 
dominion of man over the animal creation. Gen. 
1 : 28-30: "And God blessed them : and God said unto 
them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth 
and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the 
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living 
thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, 
Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed 
which is upon the face of all the earth, and 
every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding 
seed ; to you it shall be for meat. And to every 
beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and 
every thing that creepeth upon the earth wherein 
there is life I have given every green herb for meat." 

It will br seen that the whole animal creation is 
included in the blessings promised. 

(2) The covenant with Noah, guaranteeing that 



TWO GRAND DIVISIONS. 41 

there should never be another universal deluge. Gen. 
9:8-17: ''And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons 
with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my cove^ 
nant with you, and with your seed after you ; and 
with every living creature that is with you, the fowl, 
the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of 
all that go out of the ark, even every beast of the 
earth. And I will establish my covenant with you; 
neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the 
waters of the flood : neither shall there any more be 
a flood to destroy the earth. And God said. This is 
the token of the covenant which I make between me 
and you and every living creature that is with you, 
for perpetual generations : I do set my bow 
in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a 
covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come 
to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the 
bow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my 
covenant, which is between me and you and every living 
creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more 
become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall 
be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may 
remember the everlasting covenant between God and 
every living creature of all flesh that is upon the 
earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token 
of the covenant which I have established between me 
and all flesh that is upon the earth." 

Here again God includes the lower animal world 
in his promised blessings and selects the rainbow as a 
token of the covenant. As a matter of course, the 
covenant with Adam still remained in force. 

(3) The covenant with Abraham concerning a 
fleshly posterity and pointing to a future blessing 



42 TEE WORD OF TRUTH, 

which would come to all the families of earth. Gen. 
12 : 1-3 : ''Now the Lord said unto Abram, Get thee 
out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy 
father's house, unto the land that I will show thee : and 
I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless 
thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a bless- 
ing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and him 
that curseth thee will I curse : and in thee shall all 
the families of the earth be blessed." Gen. 15:5: 
"And he brought him forth abroad, and said. Look 
now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able 
to tell them : and he said unto him, So shall thy seed 
be." 

(4) The covenant with Abraham concerning 
an earthly inheritance and also repeating the 
covenant concerning a fleshly seed. Gen. 17: 
1-9: ''And when Abram was ninety years old and 
nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto 
him, I am God Almighty; walk before me, and 
be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant 
between me and thee, and will multiply thee ex- 
cedingly. And Abram fell on his face : and God 
talked with him, saying. As for me, behold, my 
covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be the father 
of a multitude of nations. Neither shall thy name 
any more be called Abram, but th}- name shall be 
called Abraham ; for the father of a multitude of na- 
tions have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding 
fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings 
shall come out of thee. And I will establish my 
covenant between me and thee and thy seed after 
thee throughout their generations for an everlasting 
covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed 
after thee. And I will s:ive unto thee, and to thv 



TWO GRAND DIVISIONS. 43 

seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the 
land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession ; and 1 
will be their God. And God said unto Abraham, And 
as for thee, thou shalt keep my covenant, thou, and 
thy seed after thee throughout their generations." 

(5) The covenant with Abraham concerning cir- 
cumcision. Gen. 17:10-13: "This is my covenant 
which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy 
seed after thee ; every male among you shall be cir- 
cumcised. i-\nd ye shall be circumcised in the flesh 
of your foreskin ; and it shall be a token of a covenant 
betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old 
shall be circumcised among you, every male through- 
out your generations, he that is born in thy house, 
or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of 
thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that 
is bought with thy money, must needs be circum- 
cised : and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an 
everlasting covenant." 

It has been commonly supposed that the great 
purpose of this covenant was to keep the chosen na- 
tion distinct and separate by a mark in the flesh. 
It is claimed by some that the rite was practiced in 
other tribes before it was given to the Abrahamic race, 
then if it continued to be practiced by other peoples 
contemporaneously with its practice by Israel, it could 
scarcely be regarded as a distinctive mark. But, how- 
ever this may be, it may certainly be regarded as a 
seal and sign of the accomplishment of the other 
Abrahamic covenants. 

Doubtless it had also a religious import. Oehler, 
quoting Ewald, says : 'Tt may be named the offering 
of the body. And this is carried out in a way that 
shall declare the propagation of the race of revelation 



44 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

to be consecrated to God." It made ethical demands, 
binding the recipient to obedience to God and to 
a blameless walk, thus becoming a symbol of a puri- 
fied heart. 

(6) The covenant with Abraham concerning a 
spiritual posterity and referred to in the latter part 
of the covenant concerning a fleshly posterity. Gen. 
22:16-18: "And the angel of the Lord called unto 
Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said. By 
myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, because thou 
hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, 
thine only son : that in blessing I will bless thee, 
and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the 
stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon 
the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of 
his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of 
the earth be blessed ; because thou hast obeyed my 
voice." This covenant gives emphasis to the two 
former covenants and promises to bless the whole 
world through Abram's seed, which, according to 
Paul, was Jesus Christ. 

(7) The covenant with Isaac, which was a repe- 
tition of the covenants with Abraham. Gen. 26 : 2-5 : 
"And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not 
down into Egypt ; dwell in the land which I shall tell 
thee of: sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, 
and will bless thee ; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I 
will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath 
which I sware unto Abraham thy father ; and I will 
multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and will give 
unto thy seed all these lands ; and in thy seed shall 
all the nations of the earth be blessed." 

(8) The covenant with Jacob, a repetition of the 
Abrahamic covenants and also guaranteeing a special 



TWO GRAND DIVISIONS. 45 

providence. Gen. 28: 13-15: ''And, behold, the Lord 
stood above it, and said, I am the Lord, the God of 
Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac ; the land 
whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy 
seed ; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, 
and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the 
east, and to the north, and to the south : and in thee 
and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be 
blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep 
thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee 
again into this land ; for I will not leave thee, tmtil 
I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." 

The covenants with Isaac and Jacob are necessa- 
rily involved in the covenants with Abraham. The 
repetition serves to give additioinal emphasis to those 
covenants, thus powerfully impressing them upon 
Abraham's descendants. 

(9) The Sinaitic covenant, which was the consti- 
tution of a temporal kingdom, the charter of the com- 
monwealth of Israel. (Ex. 19-23.) This government 
was both political and ecclesiastical. Its laws were 
civil and religious, the latter in their nature, though 
not formally, being divided into moral and ceremo- 
nial. A moral law is one that is inherently right. It 
pertains to an act that is right in itself; that is, one 
that is intrinsically right. For example, the law 
against murder is a moral law because murder is in 
itself wrong, even if there were no formal law pro- 
nounced against it. A ceremonial law is a positive 
law; that is, its binding force lies in the authority of 
the lawgiver. The whole domain of law may, in 
fact, be divided into two parts, moral and positive. 

(10) The covenant guaranteeing the office of priest- 
hood to Aaron and his sons. Ex. 28: 1-4: "And 



4G THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

"bring thou near unto thee Aaron thy brother, and 
his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, 
that he may minister unto me in the priest's office, 
even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, 
Aaron's sons. And thou shalt make holy garments 
for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for beauty. And 
thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom 
I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they 
make Aaron's garments to sanctify him, that he may 
minister unto me in the priest's office." Ex. 40: 
13-15: ''And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy 
garments ; and thou shalt anoint him, and sanctify 
him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's 
office. And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats 
upon them : and thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst 
anoint their father, that they may minister unto me 
in the priest's office: and their anointing shall be to 
them for an everlasting priesthood throughout their 
generations." 

(11) The covenant guaranteeing the scepter and 
throne to David and his seed forever. 2 Sam. 7 : 8-13 : 
^'Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant 
David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from 
the sheepcote, from following the sheep, that thou 
shouldst be prince over my people, over Israel : and I 
have been with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and 
have cut off all thine enemies from before thee; and I 
will make thee a great name, like unto the name of the 
great ones that are in the earth. And I will appoint 
a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that 
they may dwell in their own place, and be moved no 
more ; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict 
them any more, as at the first, and as from the day 
that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel ; 



TWO GRAND DIVISIONS. 47 

and I will cause thee to rest from all thine enemies. 
Moreover the Lord telleth thee that the Lord will 
make thee an house. When thy days be fulfilled, and 
thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy 
seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, 
and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a 
house for my name, and I will establish the throne 
of his kingdom forever." 

The last two covenants are the outgrowth of the 
Sinaitic covenant. 

(12) The new covenant which is developed in the 
apostolic records, guaranteeing the blessing to all na- 
tions which was promised in one of the covenants 
with Abraham. This is prophesied of in Jer. 31 : 
31-34: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that 
I will make a new covenant with .the house of Israel, 
and with the house of Judah ; not according to the 
covenant that I made with their fathers in the day 
that I took them by the hand to bring them out of 
the land of Egypt ; which my covenant they brake, 
although I was an husband unto them, saith the 
Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with 
the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord ; I 
will put my law in their inward parts, and in their 
heart will I write it ; and I will be their God, and they 
shall be my people : and they shall teach no more 
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, 
saying, Know the Lord : for they shall all know me, 
from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith 
the Lord : for I will forgive their iniquity, and their 
sin will I remember no more." Paul repeats this 
prophecy and applies it to the new covenant in Christ 
(Heb. 8:8-13). 



48 THE WOED OF TRUTH. 

Treating the four covenants with Abraham as sep- 
arate and distinct, we have twelve covenants in all. 
Leaving out of the account the two repetitions of the 
Abrahamic covenants made to Isaac and Jacob, and 
the covenant of circumcision which was a pledge 
simply of the fulfillment of these covenants, and also 
disregarding the two post-Sinaitic covenants because 
they are manifestly the outgrowth or elaboration of 
the Sinaitic covenant, we have left, the covenant 
with Adam, the covenant with Xoah, the three 
covenants with Abraham, the Sinaitic covenant, and 
the new covenant; in all, seven. It will be seen that 
the others stand related to these in such a way that 
they can scarcely be regarded as separate covenants. 

Two of these covenants surpass the others in 
relative dignity and importance: (1) The Sinaitic 
covenant, of which Moses was the mediator. To this 
the preceding covenants seem to lead. This covenant 
was really the national constitution of Israel. All 
preceding covenants were swallowed up in this in the 
sense that they depended on it for their fulfillment. 
(2) The new covenant of which Christ was mediator. 
The Sinaitic finally gave place to this. Hence Christ 
becomes the all in all. This covenant is the climax 
of God's grace and wisdom. In this is realized all 
spiritual blessings. The promises to Abraham are 
here fulfilled. The seed is Christ: the posterity, 
Christians. David's son and David's throne are real- 
ized in Christ the King who now occupies the throne. 
Thus the covenant with David is fulfilled in Christ, 
who was the son of David. 

Paul, in referring to these tv/o covenants, says: 
'Tn that he saith a new covenant, he hath made the 
first old," and hence the phrases^ "The old covenant" 



TWO GRAND DIVISIONS. 49 

and "The new covenant," are the Biblical designa- 
tions of the two great covenants. 

Finally there came to be an enlargement of the 
terms. The old and new covenants came to mean 
the body of the sacred writings wherein they were 
developed or that grew up under these covenants. 
The sacred writings of the Jews were called the old 
covenant or Old Testament; those of the apostles and 
their inspired contemporaries, the new covenant or 
New Testament, hence the two great divisions of the 
Bible — the Old Testament and the New Testament. 



CHAPTER IV. 
Divisions of the Old Testament. 

1. There is nothing that contributes more to a 
correct understanding of the Scriptures of the Old and 
New Testaments than a proper division of these 
writings. Division may be made according to author- 
ship, period, literary form, literary character, purpose 
of the various writers, and so forth. Some divisions 
are of more importance than others, but all have more 
or less value. 

2. A failure to make a proper division according 
to purpose has led not only to a great waste of time 
in the study of the Bible, but often to the most ab- 
surd conclusions. Great violence is thus done to the 
word of God and great injury to the people who are 
thus hopelessly led astray. ^lany of the teachings 
and practices of professedly Christian churches have 
grown out of a failure to properly divide the \\'ord, 
and are hence unwarranted. For instance, to properly 
discriminate between the two great covenants and the 
writings pertaining to each, has led to a mingling of 
Judaism and Christianity to the perversion of both. 
The legalistic character of the old covenant has thus 
been carried over into the new to the destruction of 
the distinctive character of the latter, and some of 
the ordinances of the new have also thus been greatly 
perverted. 

3. A failure to properly divide according to literary 
character and form not only hinders a proper under- 

50 



ACCORDING TO LITERARY CHARACTER. 51 

standing of the writers, but it also prevents appre- 
ciation of the literary beauties that add such a charm 
to many portions. A failure to divide according to 
period often leads to a misunderstanding of the 
ethical teachings of various portions, and hence calls 
forth unjust criticism. 

Let us now look at some of the more general di- 
visions of the Old Testament. 

I. The Old Testament may be divided very prop- 
erly according to literary character. 

This principle of division gives us five groups, 
composed respectively of the following number of 
books: 5, 12, 5, 5, 12. 

1. The first group, known as the Pentateuch or 
the five books of Moses, is historical and legal. It 
is also called *'The Law" (Torah), or "The Law of 
Moses," owing to the fact that it contains the legis- 
lation that God gave to Israel through IMoses as a 
mediator. The books composing this group are 
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuter- 
onomy. The word "Pentateuch'' is from two Greek 
words, "pente," five, and "tcuchos,'' book ; hence the 
name literally means five books. 

2. The second group is also historical, and, for the 
sake of memory, it may be subdivided as follows : 

Single three : Joshua, Judges, Ruth. 

Double three: 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 
and 2 Chronicles. 

Single three: Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. 

This makes in all seventeen books of history and 
law. 

3. The next group is composed of the wisdom 
and devotional books. They are : Job, Psalms, 



52 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. Some- 
times they are all grouped under the general name 
"wisdom books," and again they are designated by 
the term "devotional books." Strictly speaking, 
however, Psalms constitute the devotional literature 
proper, because they are expressive of the devotional 
sentiments of gratitude and adoration of man toward 
God. The other books of this group may with more 
propriety be termed wisdom books, because they are 
books of philosophy or wisdom. They deal with great 
truths and problems of life, and state rules and maxims 
pertaining to life and conduct. We should, perhaps, 
make an exception of the Song of Solomon, the real 
character of this book being a matter on which critics 
differ. According to the allegorical interpretation, it 
expresses the tenderness and love of God toward his 
^lect nation. Several other theories have been pro- 
pounded. 

4. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel and 
Daniel constitute the next group. These are all pro- 
phetical books and their authors are called major 
prophets, not because their prophecies are more im- 
portant than the writings of other prophets, but 
simply because they wrote more extensively. 
Lamentations was written by Jeremiah. 

5. The last twelve books are also prophetical in 
character and consist of the writings of the 
twelve minor prophets. They are : Hosea. Joel. 
Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Xahum, Habakkuk, 
Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, ^lalachi. 

It w^ill be seen that there are, in all. seventeen* 
prophetical books. The separation into two groups 
•of five and twelve is arbitrary : that is, it is not based 
on any difference in the general character of groups 



ACCORDING TO LITERARY FORM. 53 

themselves, the size of the first five books being the 
only ground for separating them from the other 
twelve. The division serves as an aid in remember- 
ing the books. 

Disregarding the subdivisions of the historical and 
prophetical books, we have three groups, composed 
respectivelv of the following number of books : 17, 
S, 17. ■ 

Another convenient division separates the Old 
Testament into history, law and prophecy, but the 
writings considered as integral books can not be so 
classified, since these three forms of literature appear, 
sometimes, in the same book, and are more or less 
interspersed throughout the Old Testament Scrip- 
tures. 

It is highly important that every Bible student 
should be able to repeat the books of the Bible in 
order, and yet very few can do it with any readiness. 
This should be one of the first acquisitions of persons 
wdio wish to be intelligent in the Bible, and it can be 
had at such a small sacrifice of time that failure at 
this point is utterly without excuse. Sunday-school 
teachers should require every student to be able to 
repeat the books of both Testaments from beginning 
to end without mistake or hesitation. 

II. The writings of the Old Testament may also be 
divided according to literary form. 

This division is perhaps less important than the 
foregoing, but it is nevertheless productive of good 
results in the study of the Bible. The matter of a 
writing is of course the most essential thing, but the 
influence of form is by no means to be despised. The 
effect on the hearer or reader depends both upon what 



54 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

is said and how it is said; that is both upon subject- 
matter and dress. 

Literary form being taken as the principle of analy- 
sis, two great divisions result: prose and poetry. 

1. The prose writings make up the larger part of 
the Scriptures. The historical books are written 
almost wholly in prose, and the prophetic books are 
largely prose, although there are poetic portions 
of great beauty, and prose parts are characterized 
by some very striking rhetorical elements, among 
which may be enumerated : bold metaphor, apt simile, 
instructive parables (although in this respect falling 
far below the parables of our Lord, as recorded in the 
New Testament), stately diction, vehement denuncia- 
tion, stirring appeal and oratorical fire. There are no 
better specimens of impassioned eloquence to be 
found anywhere than many furnished us by that 
splendid galaxy of Hebrew prophets that have given 
us the last seventeen books of the Old Testament. 
Even in the purely historic portions the style is noted 
for its sterling literary qualities, such, for instance, as 
clearness, simplicity, brevity and naturalness. Let it 
not be supposed, however, that no literary faults exist. 
In some places there is obscureness owing generally 
to extreme conciceness, or to the abstruse nature of 
the subject-matter, and in other places prolixity, 
which is never a pleasing characteristic. The style 
of the various writers exhibits wide differences, some 
writings showing greater literary excellence than 
others. As a whole, the prose writings of the Old 
Testament may be compared to the current of a great 
river. In some portions it flows on smoothly and 
majestically, yet always suggestive of wonderful 
power; in other portions when obstructions lie in its 
bed it seethes and foams and boils as if moved with 



ACCORDING TO LITERARY FORM. 55 

an uncontrollable impatience ; again, as it hurries into 
the swiftly descending rapids it rushes forward with 
irresistible force. It may be said in brief that the 
style of the Biblical writings varies with the writer, 
varies with the subject, and varies with the occasion, 
which is characteristic of literary style generally. 

This leads me to remark that the individuality of a 
speaker or writer is his most valuable asset. A person, 
to deliver a message with power, must reveal his own 
personality. He must be himself. To tell anything 
in one's own way is better than to tell it in the style 
of another. God seems to have respected the indi- 
viduality of his prophets and in inspiring them to 
speak his truth he did not in general interfere with 
their style of delivering the message. To have done 
so would have been to weaken the effect of the mes- 
sage. There are no doubt cases of verbal inspiration, 
but they are comparatively rare. For the most part 
the inspiration seems to have been a thought inspira- 
tion or spiritual illumination leaving the individual 
free in his mode of expression. There is, therefore, 
no one style that is abstractly the best. That style is 
best that best becomes the speaker, that least impairs 
his individuality, that savors least of the artificial. 

2. Poetic composition is, however, by no means 
a rare thing in the Old Testament Scriptures. While 
not so abundant as prose, yet there is such a large vol- 
ume of it that it may justly be regarded as one of the 
most striking features of the sacred Scriptures. Many 
reasons may be assigned for the poetic form of so large 
a portion of God's revelation. The element of beauty 
is never unimportant in the sight of God. God mingles 
the useful and beautiful everywhere in marvelous w^ays. 
The ear of corn is accompanied with beautiful tassel 



56 THE ^YOIW OF TRUTH. 

and blade and silken covering. Blossom precedes 
fruit, and the one is not independent of the other. Find 
me a thing of use and I will find near by a thing of 
beauty; nay, is not the thing of beauty itself a thing 
of use, since man has an aesthetic nature that demands 
its appropriate food? Why, then, should not God put 
his message into beautiful form, and has not the very 
form of the message a utiHty in itself? God's prose 
and poetry are mingled in nature and in human life ; 
why not in his revelation? 

The advantages of poetic expression are many. 

By it the human heart is deeply stirred, and, in 
turn, strong feeling and deep emotion tend to express 
themselves in song. Witness, for example, love songs, 
patriotic songs, both so abundant, and the religious 
songs expressive of deep religious feeling that con- 
stitute one of the most prominent features of worship. 
Perhaps God could have appealed to no more universal 
instinct. The rudest savages and the most cultivated 
peoples are alike powerfully influenced by song, and 
infancy and old age are subject to its spell. Another 
reason that may be given for poetic expression is the 
fact that thought so expressed is more easily remem- 
bered. The repetition present in all poetry is an aid 
to memory. 

There are three principal formal elements in poetry: 
Rhythm, rhyme and parallelism. Rhythm is repetition 
of similar pulses or beats, occasioned by repetition at 
regular intervals of similar metrical feet ; rhyme is 
regular repetition of similar sounds, while parallelism 
is repetition of similar or contrasted thought. The 
latter is the formal element in Hebrew poetry, the 
former two being wanting. There is nothing more 
beautiful or skillful in any poetry than the use of the 



SCRIPTURE METHOD OF DIVISION. 5V 

parallelism that characterizes the poetry of the Bible. 
The synonymous, antithetic and synthetic forms are 
used, sometimes separately and sometimes combined 
in a wonderful way. The double and triple varieties, 
with single and divided members, are often mingled 
together in a way that shows the utmost skill. "^ 

III. It will also be helpful to consider the Scripture 
method of division. 

Here each group is named after its chief or char- 
acteristic feature. We have : 

1 A threefold division as follows: (1) "The Law." 
This includes the five books of Moses and the follow- 
ing twelve historical books. God's law to Israel stands 
in the center. This became the civil and religious 
constitution of the nation. All that preceded led up 
to this, and all that followed was the outgrowth direct- 
ly or indirectly of this. (2) "The Prophets." This 
includes the seventeen books of the major and minor 
prophets. Predictive prophecy is a characteristic fea- 
ture of these books. (3) "The Psalms." This division 
includes the wisdom and devotional books, and, with 
the exception of Ecclesiastes, is poetic in form. 

2. We also have a twofold division called "Moses 
and the Prophets." Jesus used this division, and in its 
common acceptation it comprehended the entire Old 
Testament Scriptures. 

It is well to keep in mind that poetry is not con- 
fined to the poetic books, but is more or less inter- 
mingled with the prose in all portions of the Old 
Testament, and especially in the prophetical writings ; 



*For a fuller discussion of Hebrew poetry see chapter on 
"Prophecy : Its Poetic Form," in my work entitled "Hebrew 
Prophecy." 



58 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

also that predictive prophecy is not strictly confined to 
the prophetical books. It is also found in the historical 
books and in the Psalms. Prophecy in its broadest 
sense includes God's communications to man through 
both men and angels, whether the messages pertained 
to past, present or future. It should also be observed 
that Lamentations may be classed among the prophet- 
ical books because written by Jeremiah, or among the 
devotional books because of its character, or among 
the poetical books because of its form. 

IV. The division of the Old Testament by books 
is worthy of brief notice. 

The books are not accidental divisions, but are the 
products of authors that wrote under divine directions 
and restrictions, each performing an allotted task in 
the separate books produced. Later in this vol- 
ume, and in a subsequent volume, the books will be 
taken up and discussed more at length. For the 
present we will consider the meaning of the names 
given to the different books, stating the reasons for 
the names and thus incidentally bringing to view the 
character of the books. 

1. Genesis : The book of generations. The name was 
first applied in the Septuagint, a Greek version of the 
Old Testament, made about 280 B. C. It is a Greek 
word meaning origin, generation or creation. The 
book was probably called Genesis because it contained 
the genealogy of the patriarchs from Adam to the 
sons of Jacob. It is really a book of beginnings. A\'e 
have an account of the beginning of the creation, the 
beginning of vegetable life, the beginning of animal 
life, the beginning of humanity, the beginning of fam- 
ily life, the beginning of probation, the beginning of 
sin, the beginning of fear, the beginning of sacrifice, 



DIVISION BY BOOKS. 59 

the beginning of punishment, the beginning of death, 
the beginning of redemption and the beginning cf judg- 
ment. 

2. Exodus : From the Greek exodus, a going out. 
It describes the going out, or the departure of the 
Israelites from the Egytian bondage, under Moses as 
leader. 

3. Leviticus : So called because it contained the 
laws and regulations pertaining to Levites, who were 
the descendants of Levi and constituted the priestly 
tribe among the Israelites. 

4. Numbers : Named from the numbering of the 
children of Israel, of which it gives an account 

5. Deuteronomy: From the Greek words deuteros, 
second, and nomos, law. It means a second law, and 
was so called because it contains a repetition of the 
law of Moses, with some additions. 

6. Joshua : Called after Joshua, the successor of 
Moses, either because he was regarded as the author, 
or because it gives an account of the wars of the 
Israelites in the subjugation of Canaan, in which 
Joshua was commander. 

7. Judges: So called because it gives a history of 
Israel during the time it was ruled by judges. 

8. Ruth : Called after Ruth, a Moabitish woman, 
who became the wife of Boaz. She was an ancestress 
of David and Christ. The book is largely occupied 
with her history. 

9 and 10. 1 and 2 Samuel : These books were not 
separated originally, but constituted one book called 
Samuel, because it treats of the birth and life of 
Samuel. 

11 and 12. 1 and 2 Kings: Originally one book. 
It received its name from the fact that it deals with 



60 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

the history of Israel under the kings. The Books of 
Samuel and Kings have the appearance of being but 
one book. 1 and 2 Kings have sometimes been called 
the third and fourth Books of Kings. 

13 and 14. 1 and 2 Chronicles : So called because 
they are the chronicles or histories made as a sort of 
supplement to the Book of Kings. Originally 1 and 2 
Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah were included in one 
book. Subsequently, in the Hebrew Canon, Ezra and 
Nehemiah formed one book, but they were separated 
in the Septuagint. 

15. Ezra: Named from Ezra, its author. It is 
really a continuation of Chronicles, and Ezra is prob- 
ably the author of both. There may be portions of 
these books written by some other hand. 

16. Nehemiah : Called from Nehemiah, who wrote 
the greater part of the book. It is the latest of all the 
historical books of the Old Testament. 

17. Esther: Called from Esther, a Jewish woman 
who became the wife of Ahasuerus, king of Persia. 
The book is, in a measure, occupied with her history. 

18. Job : Called from Job, the hero of the story. 
It is a poem, based no doubt on real history. It par- 
takes of the nature of an epic. 

19. Psalms : So called because the book consists 
of psalms or songs. It is the hymn-book of the Jewish 
church. When arranged for the services of the church, 
it is sometimes called the Psalter. 

20. Proverbs : So called because the book consists, 
in a large measure, of short, pithy sayings or proverbs 
— truths uttered in a short, striking form. Solomon is 
probably the author of the greater portion of the 
book. 

21. Ecclesiastes: Called from the name bv which 



DIVISION ACCORDING TO PURPOSE. 61 

the author calls himself. It is generally conceded to 
mean one who speaks in a public assembly. 

22. Song of Solomon : Its authorship is ascribed 
to Solomon, hence the name. It is also called Can- 
ticles. 

23 to 39. The seventeen prophetic books are all 
named, with a single exception, for the prophets who 
wrote them. Lamentations receives its name from its 
character. It is a book of lamentations. Jeremiah 
pours out his sorrows and lamentations over the sins, 
and sad fate of his nation. 

V. A division very useful in coming to an intelli- 
gent understanding of the Old Testament Scriptures 
results from making purpose the principle of analysis. 

This principle is capable of extensive application. 
Not only may each book be thus separated out and 
shown to have a design in some respects different 
from any other book, but the separate books may each 
be subdivided into parts which reveal different sub- 
ordinate purposes. For the present we will consider 
the larger sections, each composed of several books and 
each disclosing a separate design, which, however, is 
closely related to the purposes of the other sections 
and to the design of the Old Testament as a whole. 

1. First in order is the Pentateuch. Not simply 
first in order of arrangement in the Canon, but first 
because of its fundamental nature as related to the 
whole. The law of Moses is the great central feature 
of this division. To give a history of the development 
of the chosen nation and of the promulgation of the 
law of Moses as the national constitution is the great 
purpose of the Pentateuch, briefly stated. The an- 
cestral line of the fathers of the elect nation is traced 
from the beginning and God's providential dealings- 



62 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

with them is shown. The history is then sketched 
from Abraham through Isaac and Jacob to his twelve 
sons, who take up their abode in Egypt, and then 
rapidly multiply and become a great host. Then 
follows an account of the deliverance and the wilder- 
ness life of forty years during which the law was 
given, elaborated, supplemented and finally repeated 
to a new generation who constituted a nation with a 
divinely given civil and religious polity, fit to assume 
the responsibilities of national life and hence ready for 
their promised inheritance. 

2. Next in order come the twelve historical books. 
The general purpose of this division is the giving of 
the history of the conquest of Canaan and the expan- 
sion and application of God's law to national life 
during its gradual unfolding until it reached its fullest 
development under David and Solomon, and even dur- 
ing the decadence that set in upon the revolt of 
Jeroboam. 

3. Then come the wisdom and devotional books, 
which give us an understanding of the subjective 
application of the law, or its appropriation by, and 
application to, individual life. The peculiarity of this 
section is its subjective character. The religion is not 
outward and formal, but inward and emotional. It is 
not religion as a national institution, but as a personal 
possession. 

4. Finally come the seventeen prophetical books. 
While each book has a specific purpose, some prophets 
being sent to the northern and some to the southern 
kingdom ; some being prophets of the exile, and some 
■of the restoration, yet a general purpose runs through 
all. It may be described as an effort on the part of the 
prophets to teach the law and bring the people to its 
•enforcement. It is the calling of the people back from 



DIVISION ACCORDING TO PURPOSE. 63 

their apostasies to fidelity to God and to the faithful 
keeping of his law. 

As a summary, I copy the words of Prof. W. H. 
Green ("Higher Criticism of the Pentateuch," p. 9) : 

''It [the Old Testament] consists of four parts, viz. : 

"(1) The Pentateuch or law of Moses, the basis of 
the whole. 

"(2) Its providential expansion and application to 
national life in the historical books. 

"(3) Its subjective expansion and appropriation to 
individual life in the poetical books. 

"(4) Its objective expansion and enforcement in 
the prophetical books." 

Let it be observed, in conclusion, that aside from 
the purposes of the separate sections which have been 
just set forth, there is one great underlying, all- 
pervading purpose running through the whole of the 
Old Testament Scriptures. It may be expressed in 
one word, Jesus. It all points to him, prepares for him 
and leads to him. Cast him aside and the tabernacle 
becomes a ''butcher shop," as a noted skeptic once 
said. Without Jesus, the religion of the Old Testa- 
ment becomes an enigma, a hull without a kernel, a 
form without a substance. It may be said we would 
have God left, but I answer no, not in any complete 
or satisfying sense. The Old Testament is not so 
much a revelation of God as a preparation for a revela- 
tion of God. Or if it be insisted that it is a revelation 
of God, still it certainly must be conceded that it is 
incomplete. In Jesus we have the full revelation. "He 
was God manifest in the flesh." He was "the 
effulgence of his glory and the express image of his 
substance." Therefore Jesus said, "He that hath seen 
me hath seen the Father." The great purpose of the 
Old Testament, therefore, is a preparation for Christ. 



CHAPTER V. 
Periods of Old Testament Literature. 

The writings of the Old Testament may very prop- 
erly be grouped into five distinct and clearly marked 
periods. 

Each group has certain peculiarities and character- 
istics by which it is distinguished. The consecutive 
groups, however, are not separated b}^ any consider- 
able intervals of time. Chronologically they shade 
into each other very closely. 

We will now direct your attention to : 

I. The first period, known as the Oral Period. 

1. The time covered by this period extended from 
the earliest ages, or the beginning of humanity, down 
to the exodus of Israel, usually said to be twenty-five 
hundred years, but probably much longer. During 
this tirne the divine revelation and the important his- 
torical events may have been transmitted in part by 
tradition, but doubtless documents and records more 
or less numerous existed. Evidence of such is found 
in the earlier Scriptures. The partition hypothesis of 
the so-called higher critics requires in its simplest form 
at least two documents, known as the Elohistic and 
Jehovistic, Elohim being the name applied to the 
Deity in one document and Jehovah being the name 
used in the other. This hypothesis has taken on differ- 
ent forms at different times, some requiring, not two 
64 



FIEST OR ORAL PERIOD, 65 

documents, but many. According to this hypothesis, 
the Pentateuch is a sort of mosaic or patchwork made 
up by piecing together scraps from these hypothetical 
documents, and by supplementary portions supplied 
by various editors and debaters. It is hard to under- 
stand how such a work as the Pentateuch, being a 
connected narrative, consistent and orderly, having a 
distinct plan that is steadily adhered to — in other 
words, having a unity that is unmistakable — could 
have been produced in the manner suggested. We 
will not, however, in this place enter into this discus- 
sion. We refer the reader to Prof. W. H. Green's 
article on "The Unity of the Pentateuch" in his work 
entitled the "Higher Criticism of the Pentateuch," and 
to his work on "The Unity of Genesis." In our next 
chapter we will discuss the authorship of the Penta- 
teuch. 

To admit the possibility of pre-existing documents, 
which may have been used by the author of the 
Pentateuch, does not, by any means, require us to 
accept the partition hypothesis in any of its forms. 
From whatever sources the author of the Pentateuch 
may have obtained his material, whether from tradi- 
tion, pre-existing documents, or immediate divine 
revelation, if he used his material as any first-class 
writer of history uses the material at his command, 
he may justly be regarded as the author of the Penta- 
teuch ; that is, he arranges his material after his own 
plan and presents it from his own viewpoint and is 
dominated by a definite purpose. A work produced in 
this way is a very different thing from a mosaic made 
up from various documents or records patched 
together. The former would have a distinct unity, 
while the latter could not have. In any case the ques- 



66 THE ^YOED OF TRUTH. 

tion of the inspiration of the writer is an important 
factor in the problems with all reverent students. 

During this time the patriarchal form of govern- 
ment prevailed. The head of the family embodied in 
himself the three great offices of prophet (the one 
who spoke God's message), priest (religious function- 
ary) and king (ruler). ]\Ian's three fundamental soul 
wants are instruction, fellowship with God, which 
involves pardon, and government. These are sup- 
plied in the offices of prophet, priest and king. In a 
simple form of society the functions can be performed 
by one man. 

2. The grounds for confidence in the authenticity 
of the history of this period are ample. Tradition is 
not wholly void of historic value. Facts, although 
somewhat corrupted and distorted, may in their 
essential features be long preserved in the form of 
traditions. ^luch of the folk-lore that exists in tradi- 
tional form has as much basis in fact as written 
history, and it is generally not hard to eliminate the 
purely fanciful from the real in this class of history. 

3. During this period conditions were very favor- 
able for the traditional form of history. (1) Adam 
was 687 years old when Methuselah was born, and 
consequently lived contemporary with him for 243 
years. (2) ]\Iethuselah was 369 years old when Noah 
was born, and consequently he and Xoah lived as con- 
temporaries for 600 years. Methuselah lived contem- 
poraneously with Shem for 99 years. (3) Shem was 
454 years old when Abraham was born, and conse- 
quently he lived contemporary with him for 146 years 
and with Isaac for forty-six years. (4) Isaac was 
fifty-nine years old when Jacob was born, and conse- 
quently he lived contemporary with him for 121 years 
and could have known all of his children. 



MOSAIC PERIOD. 67 

Thus it will be seen that a chain of four persons 
covers a period of over two thousand years — Adam^ 
Methuselah, Shem and Isaac. Joseph and one of his 
sons added to this list would transmit the history to 
Moses. 

In a general way we may conclude that the 
longevity of the patriarchs was very favorable to the 
traditional form of history, even if the commonly 
accepted chronology be rejected. 

It will readily be seen that a period of oral history 
necessarily precedes a written period. Writing is an 
accomplishment that does not belong to the infancy 
of nations. Children learn to talk before they learn to 
read and write. So of nations. Primitive nations 
transmit their history from father to son by word of 
mouth before they commit it to writing. 

When written history first appears it is more or 
less fragmentary, as we would naturally expect, but at 
last an orderly connected history appears as the final 
stage in a natural development. If this history has 
unity, it is not a piece of patchwork made up of scraps 
from the earlier fragmentary history, but is the product 
of a mind that has set for itself a definite task and is 
moved by a definite purpose, and that consequently 
uses its material so as to show the impress of the 
author's own thoughts, plans and purposes. 

Allow to the writer an inspiration enabling him to 
separate the true from the false, and all difficulties 
concerning the traditional form of history vanish. 

II. We next come to the Mosaic Period. 

1. This is a period of orderly connected written 
history as distinguished from the previous period in 
which the history was either oral or written in frag- 
mentary form, or both. 



68 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

This period was quite brief, covering not more 
than 100 years, from about 1500 to 1400 B. C. 

The materials of the writings were probably 
derived from four sources : tradition ; ancient docu- 
ments consisting probably of notes and memoranda, 
and possibly somewhat connected and consecutive 
annals preserved in some family line ; direct divine 
revelation supplementary to these two forms of his- 
tory, and personal knowledge of the writer of many of 
the events that he records. 

2. Those who believe in the inspiration of the 
writer of 'the Pentateuch hold that he w^as divinely 
inspired to record such facts as were demanded by the 
plan and purpose of his writing, but were not obtain- 
able from any other source, and that he was divinely 
directed in the choice of other material, whether ob- 
tained from oral tradition or pre-existing written 
documents. It may be asked, Why use pre-existing 
documents or oral tradition if the author was divinely 
inspired? The answer is that God is an .economist. 
He never employs superfluous agencies. The divine 
assistance seems to be everywhere supplementary. 
This lesson is taught both in the natural world and in 
the Bible. God never does for a man what he can do 
for himself. If this principle is a universal one, and I 
know of no exception, we would expect, in a matter of 
this kind, that God would leave the author to exhaust 
all the natural resources at his command before lend- 
ing him special divine aid. The author of the Penta- 
teuch would only need supplementary information as 
to matters lying outside of the ordinary sources of 
knowledge and infallible direction in making choice 
of material within his reach. 

3. One other fact should be kept in mind. The 



DAVIDIC PERIOD. 69 

literature of the period is both considerable in volume 
and excellent in literary quality. Such a fact may be 
accounted for in either of two ways : It may have 
been a growth having roots or beginnings running 
back perhaps hundreds of years, or the form may have 
been the result of direct inspiration. Since God has 
generally respected the individuality of his prophets, 
leaving them free to express the divine communication 
in their own way, we may safely conclude that the 
literary form of the Pentateuch is the result of a 
natural growth or development. It is also a well- 
established fact that the art of writing is much older 
than the age of Moses, and there may have been an 
amount of pre-Mosaic literature much larger than was 
formerly generally supposed. In fact. Oriental 
research has made it certain that Moses lived in a 
literary age, so to speak. The argument formerly 
relied upon by the opponents of the Bible was the 
alleged fact that the art of writing was much younger 
than Moses, and that consequently Moses could not 
have written the Pentateuch. Recent discoveries have 
completely set this argument aside. 

III. The Davidic Period or the Golden Age. 

1. The time covered by the literature of this period 
extends from about 1100 to 950 B. C. There is evi- 
dently quite a break between the literature of the 
Mosaic period and that of the Davidic period. About 
three hundred years intervened during which time 
comparatively little writing was done, or, if writing 
flourished, very little has been preserved to us, which 
is not probable. The reason for this is not hard to 
discover. The Israelites were passing through a 
pioneer period and had to develop their country — 



70 TBE WORD OF TRUTH. 

build homes and cities, improve their farms, develop 
industries; in short, do the work incident to a pioneer 
age which is never favorable to the production of a 
jiterature. Then, too, they were seldom at peace. 
They were harassed and vexed by enemies without 
and even within. Literature never flourishes during 
the early history of a country, or in a time of war and 
commotion. Another fact should be kept in mind : 
Only a few generations lay between the people of this 
intermediate military period and Egyptian bondage. 
It would necessarily require a considerable period of 
culture and training to produce a class sufficiently 
educated to become writers. The writing of the 
Mosaic period was done principally by one man who 
had enjoyed special educational advantages in Egypt. 
It necessarily took time for conditions to mature that 
made literature a possibility, to any considerable ex- 
tent. 

2. But the time arrived for the further development 
of the national literature. 

Politically, the golden age of the nation had come. 
The promise that God made to Abraham centuries 
before concerning the land was realized under David 
and Solomon. The nation controlled the country frcm 
the Euphrates on the north to Egypt on the south, in 
area about 60,000 square miles. The enemies of the 
nation had been overcome and the people enjoyed 
peace and plenty. Such a period is always favorable 
to the growth of literature. Hence, as we would 
naturally expect, the golden age of Hebrew literature 
was ushered in. The writings of this period sustain 
a relation to the national literature similar to that 
which the writings of the Elizabethan age sustain to 
the literature of the English nation. 



DAVIDIC PERIOD. 71 

3. The literature of the Mosaic age is the necessary 
background for this literature. 

National literature has its infancy, its period of 
greatest development, and its decay. At least, this 
rule seems to hold good in the history of all the nations 
of the past that have produced literatures. In other 
w^ords, every national literature has had its golden 
age. It wras so in Greece and Rome, and the rule has 
held good among modern nations. This golden age 
has had roots running back sometimes for centuries. 
Out of small beginnings great things have come by a 
gradual process of growth or development. The 
golden age of English literature — that splendid out- 
burst of the sixteenth century to which Lilly, Bacon, 
Hooker, Spenser, Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and a 
host of others, contributed — has roots running back 
more than eight hundred years, to Caedmon in poetry 
and to Baeda in prose. Thence onward through 
Alfred, Gower, Mandeville, Wyclif and Chaucer the 
stream of literature (to change the figure) flows with 
constantly increasing volume until the majestic cur- 
rent of the Elizabethan age is reached. 

The question arises (and it is a highly important 
and interesting one). Where are the roots of the 
golden age of Hebrew literature? There can be but 
one answer. The Pentateuch is the natural and 
necessary background. Without this, the literature 
of the Davidic age is a great tree without roots, a 
mighty stream without source or tributaries. Here, 
to our mind, is a strong argument in favor of the early 
date of the Pentateuch. The only way to avoid its 
force is to make practically all the literature of Israel 
post-exilic, which leaves Israel without a literature for 
a thousand years of its history, except a few hypo- 



72 THE WORD OF TBUTH. 

thetical documents no trace of which exists outside of 
the supposed indications in the Pentateuch. 

To carry nearly the entire bulk of the Pentateuchal 
literature forward to the time of Josiah and afterward, 
destroys anything like a rational and orderly develop- 
ment; it presents a phenomenon witnessed in no other 
national literature. 

IV. The Prophetic Period. 

1. There has always been a peculiar fascination 
about the prophetic literature of the Old Testament. 
This is accounted for in several ways. The predictive 
feature is very interesting, embodying, as it does very 
forcibly, the fact of inspiration. Many of the events 
foretold are of thrilling interest and of far-reaching 
importance. The language is often very beautiful, 
abounding in striking similes and bold metaphors, and 
the diction is frequently most sublime. The prophets 
themselves are striking and interesting characters, 
looming above the common level, both in moral 
grandeur and intellectual elevation, like lofty mountain 
peaks above the plain. They appear as mighty re- 
formers raised up by God for special exigencies. 

2. It must not be supposed, however, that the 
predicting of future events exhausted the function of 
the prophets. Exhortations, warnings, threatenings, 
promises, prayers, songs of victory, in short, persua- 
sion in almost every form, abounds. 

3. The time covered by the prophetic writing was 
about three hundred years, from 950 to 550 B. C. By 
this it is not meant that all prophecies fall within this 
period. On the contrary, the prophetic element enters 
more or less into nearly all of the Old Testament 
literature. It means that the wonderful sralaxv of 



PROPHETIC PERIOD. 73 

reformers known as prophets wrote within the period 
named, with few exceptions. 

4. The conditions that gave birth to the prophetic 
writings were pecuHar. There was a widespread 
apostasy in the nation. The two kingdoms, Israel and 
Judah, were declining in power. The hope of empire 
was weakening. Through foreign alliances idolatry 
was creeping in. 

5. A study of the prophetic writings reveals a two- 
fold purpose. First of all, the prophets spoke to the 
people of their own time. The messages were called 
forth by existing evils, at least in part. In other 
words, there was a historic background for the 
prophecies uttered from time to time. Even much of 
the predictive prophecy was hortatory in purpose, and 
hence conditional. If the warning was heeded, the 
prophecy was not fulfilled. In the second place, there 
was a Messianic vein running through all that is in- 
tensely interesting and highly important. As to 
whether the prophets themselves comprehended the 
import of their Messianic utterances may be seriously 
doubted. It is perhaps safe to say they did not in any- 
true sense. Their views of the Messiah were not only 
meager, but probably grossly at fault, as were the 
views of the Jews in later ages. A somewhat more 
exhaustive analysis of the purpose of the prophecy to 
the Israelites may be stated thus : 

(1) To give instruction. This is always character- 
istic of the divine dealing. God always seeks to 
enlighten and instruct. (2) To restore a neglected 
law. (3) To rebuke sin. (4) To declare God's judg- 
ments. (5) To unfold God's pardoning mercy to the 
penitent. (6) To foretell the coming Messianic King 
and kingdom, and to give a graphic representation of 



74 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

both. (7) To teach new and higher conceptions cf 
Jehovah. An interesting question takes rise at this 
point : Were the prophets engaged solely in an effort 
to cure apostasy, that is, call the people back to a 
neglected law, or were they seeking to do constructive 
work, that is, lift the people up to new and higher 
conceptions of God? I think both views can be main- 
tained, and hence I think both are correct. I see 
nothing in one that is incompatible with the other. 

There was doubtless a general purpose to the 
world at large which may be thus summarized: (1) 
To kindle spiritual aspirations. (2) To foretell the 
coming Saviour — his work, character and kingdom, and 
thus in a measure prepare the way for him. (3) To 
furnish a strong line of evidence for the inspiration of 
the Scriptures and the divinity of Christ. 

6. The relations of the prophetic writings to the 
other Scriptures should not be overlooked. It is the 
very heart of the Old Testament history. Much of 
God's dealings with the Jews would be wholly unin- 
telligible without the prophecies. It throws over the 
whole volume an atmosphere of serious truthfulness 
that is most charming. It has close relations to the 
literature pertaining to the priestly office and to the 
general history of the nation. It presents the objective 
expansion and enforcement of the law, and hence it is 
the necessary sequel to the legislative and historical 
books. 

7. The style of the prophetic writings may be 
described as: (1) Vigorous — tropes, similes, meta- 
phors abound ; (2) poetic — some of the finest poetry ex- 
tant is found in the writings of Hebrew prophets; (3) 
vague — this grows partly out of the fact that the lan- 
guage is often highly figurative. Doubtless the mean- 



PROPHETIC PERIOD. 75 

ing was sometimes purposely concealed, intended only 
to be understood when fulfilled. Predictive prophecy 
given for the purpose of evidence usually has its mean- 
ing veiled until after its fulfillment, when it becomes 
plain. 

As a matter of course, each prophet has his own 
characteristic style, the foregoing qualities being the 
general or prevailing characteristics. There is, how- 
ever, a similarity in style that is noticeable. There is 
a certain stateliness of diction and sublimity of 
thought and expression common to all. The same 
high moral tone pervades the writings of all. All 
consider moral questions from the same viewpoint. 
Loyalty to Jehovah characterizes the entire group. 

8. The relation of prophet to priest and king at 
various times, as it is set forth in Old Testament 
history, constitutes a very interesting study. These 
three offices are co-ordinate, and between them a 
proper equilibrium should be maintained in order to 
the proper discharge of the duties belonging to each. 
There should be no rivalry or jealousy, or encroach- 
ment of one upon the other. Each does a work 
necessary to the public weal, but very different in 
character. Man needs instruction concerning matters 
tmdiscoverable by the unaided human mind; that is to 
say, revelation. This is the function of the prophet. 
He is God's nabi or mouthpiece. Man needs pardon, 
reconciliation with God ; this is the function of the 
priest. Man needs rule or government ; this is the 
function of the king. In Israel, as is always the case 
when the human factor enters in, there was more or 
less departure from the divine ideal. The proper ad- 
justment between these three great offices was not 
always maintained. In the time of Samuel the influ- 



76 THE WOBD OF TRUTH. 

ence of the prophet was supreme. Even the king was 
in a degree subordinate to the prophet, and did not 
hesitate to cultivate his society for the sake of the 
prestige he might thereby acquire. In the time of 
David the prophet and king were pretty evenly bal- 
anced in prestige and power with the people, but later 
on the monarchy encroached upon prophetism, and, in 
fact, king and priest seemed to make common cause 
against prophet. After the revolt of Jeroboam, 
prophets in the northern kingdom co-operated with 
the monarchy, and occupied a place of influence and 
power, while in the southern kingdom priesthood and 
monarchy seemed to combine to the overthrow of 
prophetism. For two and a half centuries there was 
little or no prophecy in the southern kingdom. In 
explanation of the fact that prophetism flourished in 
the northern kingdom and seemed to be absent from 
the southern kingdom, it may, as I think, be justly said 
that apostasy was greatest in the north, and hence 
God's messengers of warning w^ere more needed there. 

9. There are some points of special interest and 
importance relating to the prophetic books to which I 
wish to call attention before taking up the next period. 

(1) There is never any contradiction. If dififerent 
prophets prophesy concerning the same events, which 
they sometimes do, there is never any disagreement. 
This can only be accounted for on the supposition that 
all were guided by the same mind, or, in other words, 
upon the hypothesis of inspiration. 

The same high ethical standard and lofty morality 
pervades the whole. The prophets themselves were 
men of sterling integrity and great purity of life, and 
their writings are all characterized by the same high 



PROPHETIC PERIOD. 77 

moral tone. Virtue and righteousness are uniformly 
exalted and magnified, and wickedness is condemned. 

The Messianic idea enters largely into these 
writings. By this hope all were inspired. This 
thought was potent to fire their souls as no other 
thought, and to call forth their sublimest and most 
thrilling utterances. Nor is this idea confined to the 
prophets. On the contrary, it pervades the whole of 
the Old Testament literature. There are abundant 
references to the coming Messiah and the glory and 
extent of his kingdom. Can any one ask for stronger 
evidence of one guiding, controlling master mind? 

(2) The credibility that necessarily attaches to the 
prophetic writings is very interesting. This is shown, 
by the high moral tone of the books, by the sterling 
character of the prophets and the evident spirit of 
honesty and candor, and by the minuteness of detail in 
which the writers often indulge. 

The objector says, *Tt requires no inspiration to 
foretell future events, as, for instance, the overthrow 
of a city in an age of violence when such things were 
the rule and not the exception." How little weight 
this has is seen when we consider that the prophets 
not only foretold great calamities about to follow, but 
gave the minute details and made numerous specifi- 
cations, all of which were rigidly fulfilled. The 
effort to show that there is no such thing as specific 
prophecy may be set down as an utter failure. The 
seventy weeks (or four hundred and ninety years) of 
Daniel, during which the special privileges of his 
nation were to continue, and the minute specifications 
of the last week of the seventy pertaining to the per- 
sonal work of the Messiah-r-the specifications 
concerning the overthrow of Nineveh, Babylon and 



78 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

many other cities — make impossible the theory that 
all prophecy is merely shrewd human prediction based 
on wide induction and a clear understanding of the 
principles of the divine government. There is such a 
thing as prescience or human foresight that does not 
involve inspiration, but many of the Hebrew 
prophecies are too minute and circumstantial to be 
accounted for in that way. Leaving out of the account 
all other prophecies, the Messianic predictions alone 
are so minute and specific as to preclude the possibility 
of their being the product of ordinary or even extra- 
ordinary human forecast. They must be regarded as 
the product of the Divine Spirit. 

(3) The intense patriotism of the prophets as a 
whole is remarkable. The patriotic spirit is most 
remarkable. Not a single exception is found. Patri- 
otic expressions are very abundant and the general 
spirit of the books expresses the sentiment even more 
forcibly than specific words could do. This, it may be 
remarked, is always characteristic of the truly noble 
man. The man who loves not his country has certainly 
a great grievance, or he is an ignoble soul. 

"Lives there a man with soul so dead 
Who never to himself has said, 
'This is my own, my native land'?" 

V. The Period of Restoration. 

L The time covered by this period was about 130 
years — from 530 to 400 B. C. It was the period of the 
re-establishment of the nation in Palestine after the 
return from the Babylonish captivity, and was conse- 
quently ill suited to the production of a literature, 
being practically an infantile age in the national life. 
Although the nation was old and had had a long and 



PERIOD OF RESTORATION. 79 

wonderful history and a still more wonderfiu litera- 
ture, yet the captivity was such a complete breaking 
up of the national life that the period immediately 
following the return resembled in all respects the 
establishment of a new nation. Homes had to be 
rebuilt, cities founded, and the country reclaimed from 
its devastated and decaying condition. It must 
necessarily have been a perio'd of privation and ardu- 
ous toil, and therefore wholly unfavorable to learning 
and literature. 

2. The quarrel with the Samaritans and its results 
should not escape attention. In 534 B. C, two years 
after the return from bondage, the second temple was 
commenced. The Jews refused the help offered by the 
Samaritans, and consequently incurred their hostility. 
Smarting under the insult, the Samaritans succeeded 
in inducing the Persian king to prohibit the Jews from 
proceeding further with the enterprise undertaken. 
The work thus interrupted was not resumed until 520 
B. C, and the temple was not completed until about 
516 B. C. Jeremiah had predicted that the captivity 
would last seventy years. Prideaux dates the begin- 
ning of the captivity at 606 B. C. The captivity did 
not all take place at one time. There were successive 
deportations, and it is probable that certain ones were 
carried captive at this time, which may therefore be 
properly regarded as the beginning of the captivity. 
The seventy years expired 536 B. C, which is the 
date of the return. Others date the beginning of the 
captivity in 586 B. C, when the city and temple were 
destroyed. Seventy years from that date brings us to 
516 B. C, which was the time the second temple was 
completed, which may be regarded as the complete re- 
establishment of the nation. The former view is prob- 



80 TEE WORD OF TRUTE. 

ably the correct one, or we may regard the first period 
as the captivity in the civil sense, and the latter period 
as the captivity in the ecclesiastical sense. The point 
of special significance in this connection is the fact that 
after the rebuilding of the second temple had been 
commenced, the work was interrupted for a period of 
years. This fact has a special bearing on the question 
of the literature of the peViod, as will appear below. 

3. Four books are assigned to this period: 
Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. The purposes 
of these books will be noticed in a subsequent volume. 
The language of all the writings produced after the 
exile is somewhat impure. Foreign words which crept 
into the Hebrew during the exile frequently appear. 

VI. The Period of Arrangement: 400-150 B. C. 

1. The Book of Esther closed the canon. Follow- 
ing this came the work of editing and arranging by 
Ezra. That Ezra was well qualified for the work of 
editing and arranging the canon can not be doubted. 
Certainly no one was more zealous for the law than he, 
and no one aroused more interest in the Hebrew 
Scriptures. He was the originator of the synagogue 
as a means of teaching the law. Tradition, with 
apparent good reason, assigns to him the work of col- 
lecting, settling and arranging the canon. His zeal for 
the law, his acquaintance with the Scriptures, and his 
prominence as a teacher of the law, give him a place 
second only to Closes, and by some of the divisive 
school of critics he is accredited with the authorship 
of a large share of the Pentateuch. I regard this view 
as extreme and unwarranted, but he may safely be 
regarded as the author of the canon. 



THE APOCRYPHA. 81 

2. The work of Nehemiah. The patriotism and 
zeal of Nehemiah are conspicuous, as is also his ster- 
ling character in other respects. Being in part con- 
temporary with Ezra, he could have rendered him 
material help in the work of arranging the canon. The 
tradition that he formed a library of at least part of the 
recognized books is not at all improbable, although 
his labors were devoted moje to the civil affairs of the 
nation than to the religious. His work and that of 
Ezra were consequently complementary, the former 
pertaining largely to civil matters, the latter more to 
priestly functions. The close relation of the civil and 
religious elements in the Jewish state makes it prob- 
able that he had a hand in the work of arrangement. 

3. The final work. Under the Maccabsean princes 
the work of revision was taken up and completed. 
From that time the Old Testament appears in its 
present form. The present catalogue of Old Testa- 
ment books is substantially the same as the one found 
in the Septuagint, except that the Septuagint con- 
tained a number of Apochryphal books. This trans- 
lation was probably not all made at one time. It was 
begun about 280 B. C. Some argue that portions of 
the work were done as late as 150 B. C. Ceftainly 
from that date onward there was no material change. 

VII. The Apocrypha. 

In addition to the canonical books of the Old Tes- 
tament, a considerable number of books and writ- 
ings appeared (in all about sixteen) that have been 
grouped under the head "Apochrypha." These are of 
obscure origin ; and, while they have a certain historic 
value, they in no respect compare favorably with the 
canonical books. As compared with the accepted 



82 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

books, they are light and frivolous. In the early, 
uncritical ages, it is true that some of them were in- 
cluded among the canonical books, but no one can read 
them without feeling their immense inferiority in every 
respect. Owing to their character, if for no other 
reason, they can never hold a place in the canon. 

Conclusion : It may safely be said that no nation 
ever produced so wonderful a literature as the Hebrew 
nation. It has elements that are unique and peculiar, 
causing it to stand out separate and distinct from all 
the literatures of the world ; and it is a remarkable fact 
that the higher the culture of men is, the more it is 
appreciated by them. Of almost every high form of 
literary composition it furnishes examples of marvel- 
ous beauty. 



PART II. 
The Autnorsnip or the Pentateuck. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Authorship of the Pentateuch — 
Preliminary Matters. 

Before taking up the question of authorship of the 
Pentateuch, there are certain preliminary questions to 
be considered that lay the foundation for the discus- 
sion. 

I wish first to consider : 

I. A so-called method of study. 

1. I would preface this article with the remark that 
there is a true science of higher criticism — that is, an 
inquiry into the date and authorship of documents 
and kindred questions — that is perfectly legitimate. I 
use the phrase, however, to indicate the divisive 
hypothesis which has monopolized the term in the 
rninds of many. That there are many who are inclined 
to look upon the so-called higher criticism as some- 
thing that is very innocent in its nature is very evident. 
The idea is ridiculed that there is anything dangerous 
to Christian faith in the tendencies or results of this 
theory. We are told that it is a method of study or 
investigation, and not something that has to do with 
individual or collective religious life ; that it is not 
intended to make converts or develop Christian char- 
acter, but that it is merely a method of investigation 
to be used by the minister in the quiet of his study, 
and consequently something entirely harmless ; that it 

85 



86 TEE WORD OF TEIJTE. 

is a literary question merely and has no religious bear- 
ing. The question is asked : Does any theory as to 
the origin or authorship of the Scriptures destroy their 
sublime and lofty character, their high ethical teach- 
ing, or their religious value? We may also state it this 
way : Can any theory as to the origin of the Scriptures 
destroy their intrinsic worth? Are not the Scriptures 
their own defense, regardless of the date or authorship 
of the various books? In proof of the innocent char- 
acter of this method of study, the fact is cited that 
devout believers in Christianity and the inspiration of 
the Scriptures, such as Professors Driver, Robertson 
Smith and others, to say nothing of some of our own 
pious and devoted scholars, accept these methods 
apparently without damage to their own faith or detri- 
ment to their religious life. Concerning the latter 
point, the fact has been pointed out by eminent con- 
servative writers that many devout critics have been 
prone to make admissions and accept theories without 
seeing the logical conclusions to which these admis- 
sions and theories necessarily lead. In other words, 
the fact is cited that many who are long on 
scholarship are short on logic, a by no means uncom- 
mon fact. But, be this as it may, let us ask. Is this 
critical method, which is best described by the phrase 
''destructive criticism," so innocent as some of our 
younger writers would have us to believe? Are those 
who see danger in these theories silly alarmists or old 
fogies who get frightened at anything that is in any 
sense a departure from old traditional views or 
cherished beliefs, as some are fond of asserting? It 
should be borne in mind that the Scriptures are not 
simply an aggregation of ethical teachings, the value 
of which is independent of all outside considerations, 



A SO-CALLED METHOD OF STUDY. 87 

and unaffected by the question of authorship or date. 
The writings of the Old and New Testaments are not 
abstract teachings concerning spiritual things, but they 
present spiritual truths concretely in the history of 
men, families and nations. In this respect the Bible 
is unique. Truth is made to walk before us in incar- 
nate form. In short, spiritual truth is closely linked 
to human history. The Bible is not a treatise on 
ethical philosophy, abstractly presented, but is largely 
a book of history. God's great plan moves majesti- 
cally to its accomplishment through a patriarchal 
family and a chosen nation, culminating in the life and 
teachings of the perfect Man, who was a concrete 
manifestation of truth, and hence it is said, ''His life 
was the light of men." 

2. Following this biography of the person who was 
"God manifest in the flesh," we have the history of the 
establishment of his kingdom through his chosen 
apostles. It will at once be seen that it is impossible 
to divorce the ethical and religious teachings of the 
Bible from the history with which they are inseparably 
connected. In short, the historic verity of the facts; 
recorded is a matter of supreme importance, and the 
historic accuracy of the facts depends largely upon the 
qiiestion of authorship and date. 

It is true, as a general proposition, that the value 
of a book is determined by its subject-matter rather 
than by its authorship. What is in a book, rather than 
who wrote it, is ordinarily the important fact. This 
rule, however, will not hold good in the case of the 
Pentateuch. Here the question of authorship is a 
matter of vital importance, owing to the peculiar 
nature of its subject-matter, and to the fact that its 
trustworthiness as a historic document is thereby de- 



88 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

termined. Even a hasty sketch of this document will 
not only show this to be true, but wall also reveal 
its far-reaching relations, and its fundamental char- 
acter as Biblical literature. I would therefore call 
attention to : 

II. The contents of the Pentateuch and the im- 
portance of a right view concerning it. 

1. The Pentateuch professes to give a record of the 
creation of the material world, of vegetable life and of 
all animal forms, culminating in the creation of man. 
It then takes up man's history and traces it from Eden 
onward, giving an account of the introduction of sin in- 
to the world, of the development of wickedness and the 
consequent destruction of the ungodly world. Then 
follows the account of Babel and the dispersion of 
mankind over the earth. Running through it all, it 
traces a righteous line from Adam through Noah to 
Abraham, the father of a nation which was selected by 
God as the receptacle of divine revelation, and which, 
in the outworking of the divine purpose, embraced the 
lineage through which the Messiah came. Beginning 
with Abraham, the development of the chosen nation 
is traced — the bondage, the deliverance, the giving of 
the laws that formed the national constitution, the 
amplification of the law, thus furnishing an elaborate 
civil and religious code, the disciplinary period of 
forty years in the wilderness under the special provi- 
dence of God, and the leadership of ]\Ioses through it 
all, ending just before the nation passed over Jordan 
to take possession of its promised inheritance, for 
which their whole previous history had been a prepara- 
tion. It is evident that the Pentateuch, if it is what 
it purports to be, stands in vital relation not only to 



CONTENTS OF PENTATEUCH. 89 

early secular history, but to archeological and ethno- 
logical science as well. Nay, more, it is the foundation 
of all subsequent divine communications, including the 
revelation we have in Jesus Christ, and hence it is the 
basis of Christian faith. It will be seen, therefore, that 
it is hardly possible to exaggerate its importance. 

2. Is the Pentateuch a reliable historic document, 
or is it a conglomerate mixture of fable, legend, alle- 
gory and some truly historic matter, the latter, how- 
ever, being so skillfully interwoven with the fiction 
that it can not with any certainty be disentangled so 
that we may really know what we can safely accept? 
In the decision of this question, that of authorship 
must necessarily play an important part. It will also 
be evident that the question of inspiration is involved 
in the decision reached. Inspiration will mean one 
thing to him who accepts the Mosaic authorship, and 
an entirely different thing to him who accepts the rival 
hypothesis known as the analytical theory. This will 
become evident in the course of this discussion, if it 
is not sufficiently clear upon the mere statement of 
the proposition. 

3. Furthermore, be it observed that the view 
taken as to the authorship of the Pentateuch deter- 
mines not only the character of the writings in the 
mind of the student, but, to a large degree, the view 
of the whole question of revelation is thus fixed. The 
Bible is one sort of book to those who accept the 
Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, and a very 
different kind of book to those who accept the rival 
hypothesis. I do not go too far when I say the differ- 
ence is so great as to make out of the Bible two differ- 
ent books. To the former it is a revelation of God to 
man in part direct, in part through men inspired of 



90 TEE WOBD OF TRUTH. 

God 10 speak his message, and in part through angels ; 
obscure in the beginning, but rising to higher and 
higher levels as man is capacitated to receive grow- 
ing measures of truth. To the latter it is a record 
of the unfolding of the divine nature that is resident 
in man by virtue of his creation, giving expression to 
his ever-growing religious conceptions and marking 
his struggles as he rises through the resident divine 
factor into fuller light and knowledge. To the latter 
as to the former, it is a growing revelation, but the 
revelation in the former view is the result of an imme- 
diate inspiration, given for a specific purpose, and 
superhuman in its character; to the latter it is the 
result of a resident inspiration that belongs to all men, 
potentially, if not actually, but more fully developed 
or more actively alive in some than in others. It will 
be seen that the latter view reduces the Bible to the 
plane of the world's books, the only difference, if any, 
being the higher type of spiritual conceptions which 
some of the Bible writers have shown by virtue of the 
superior strength of the resident divine force due to 
their peculiar history, circumstance? and environ- 
ments. Nay, more, we may go further and say we 
ought to look for a higher degree of inspiration in the 
writings of the best and most spiritual men to-day, 
since much progress has been made in two millen- 
niums in expressing religious conceptions, strength- 
ened as this resident divinity must have been under 
the stimulating effects and fostering care of Christian- 
ity. It must be apparent, therefore, that the character 
of any discussion of the literature of the Bible will be 
determined by the position taken on this question. 

4. It is furthermore true that he who would write 
anything of value concerning the sacred Scriptures 



LIFE AND WORK OF MOSES. 91 

must have settled convictions on a matter so funda- 
mentally important as this. I am therefore under the 
necessity of taking a definite stand on this question, 
which I am very willing to do, since I think I have 
good reasons for the faith which is within me, which 
I trust I shall be able to make apparent in the course 
of this discussion. I unhesitatingly accept the Mosaic 
authorship of the Pentateuch without the slightest 
misgiving as to the result upon myself or upon those 
who may possibly be influenced by what I have to 
•say on the subject, and I will add that the more I read 
on the subject, pro and con, the more firmly my faith 
becomes fixed. To announce in advance one's posi- 
tion on a subject about to be studied may not be con- 
sidered in harmony with the true scientific method. 
In fact, I have listened, day after day, to men laying 
before their students both sides of a case, all the time 
failing to disclose, if not carefully concealing, their 
own convictions, but I do not consider this method 
in a controversy such as this either necessary or right. 
1 believe the arguments on both sides should be pre- 
sented fairly, but at the same time I believe a writer 
or teacher ought to have decided convictions and not 
hesitate to let those convictions be known. A colorless 
writer is never of much assistance to the cause of 
truth. 

I desire next to briefly consider as a preliminary 
study : 

III. The life and work of Moses. 

If this does not have a direct bearing on the ques- 
tion under consideration, it at least has a very impor- 
tant indirect relation to the subject in hand. 

That Moses was one of the most important of Bible 



92 TEE WORD OF TRUTE. 

characters is conceded by all who regard the Bible with 
any degree of reverence or respect. As the mediator 
of the covenant with Israel, he is typical of our Lord, 
who was the mediator of the new covenant. He was 
the lawgiver of the old dispensation, as Christ was 
the lawgiver of the new. He wrought miracles in the 
establishment of the divinity of his mission, as Christ 
wrought miracles in the establishment of his claims. 
He led Israel out of the bondage of Egypt, as Christ 
leads the world out of the bondage of sin. Israel was 
baptized unto Closes in the cloud and in the sea, as 
the believer is baptized into Christ in the waters of 
Christian baptism. He led the Israelites for forty 
years in the desert, bringing them to the borders of 
the promised land, as Christ leads the spiritual Israel 
through life's pilgrimage to the Canaan of everlasting 
rest. 

His genealogical line stands as follows : Abraham, 
Isaac, Jacob, Levi, Cohath, Amram, ]^Ioses. His 
mother's name was Jochebed, and he had a brother, 
Aaron, and a sister, ^liriam. God gave Aaron to be 
his mouthpiece when he sent him on a mission to 
Pharaoh to ask him to emancipate the Israelites, which 
grew out of the fact that Closes was not a fluent 
speaker. 

Miriam came prominently into view at the time of 
the deliverance, when she responded to the song 
of victory on the shore of the Red Sea. She, like 
Moses, had the poetic gift, as is directly affirmed in 
the Scriptures. She and Aaron, while directly asso- 
ciated with Moses as the deliverer of Israel, yet on 
one occasion spoke against ]\Ioses on account of his 
marriage with a Cushite woman, for which act of 
— shall I say disloyalty? — ^liriam was severely pun- 



LIFE AND WORK OF MOSES. 9a 

ished. This is an illustration of the weaknesses inci- 
dent to a great and noble nature. 

Moses' life readily divides itself into three parts : 
1. For forty years he was essentially an Egyptian,, 
having been reared in the king's court by the king's 
daughter. The circumstances leading to this are too 
familiar to need repetition here. As we would naturally 
expect, and as we are expressly told, he was learned in 
all the wisdom of the Egyptians. His educational- 
advantages must have been the best the age afforded ; 
we may reasonably conclude that whatever of historic 
documents and records may have been extant, not only 
in Egypt, but outside as well, were accessible to him, 
since Egypt was in touch with surrounding nations. 
The education of Moses was by no means as meager 
as we might be led to conclude by considering the 
remoteness of the period in which he lived. Egypt 
had even at that time made considerable educational 
progress. Reading and writing in hieroglyphic form 
wre taught, and in addition to the Egyptian language 
it is probable that a Semite dialect closely akin to 
Hebrew was studied. Professor Robertson, in his 
work entitled "Early Religion of Israel," speaks of the 
discovery at Tel-el-Amarna, in Egypt, of clay tablets 
in the Babylonian language dating back of the exodus, 
which he argues proves that the art of writing was not 
only then known, but widely diffused, presupposing 
no small degree of culture. The early date of the 
cuneiform inscriptions also establishes the fact of the 
great antiquity of the art of writing. It is no longer 
a matter of doubt that the age of literature long 
antedates the time of ]\Ioses. The curricula of the 
schools of Egypt were by no means meager. Written 
language was not the only thing taught. Arithmetic 



94 THE ^YORD OF TRUTH. 

was also studied, and it is said the Egyptians were 
good arithmeticians. They also had a knowledge of 
music, and Philo says Aloses was taught music. His 
knowledge of poetry may have been obtained from the 
study of Egyptian poetry. Egypt at that time had two 
seats of learning, Heliopolis and Hermopolis. In these 
schools or universities, geometry, literature, astronomy, 
law, medicine, chemistry and composition, especially 
epistolary correspondence, were taught. Moses' early 
education was doubtless directed by tutors at the 
king's court, but it is highly probable that he would be 
sent to the universities for his later education, else 
how could he be taught in all the wisdom of the Egyp- 
tians? Tradition declares that Moses chose a soldier's 
calling, which does not seem improbable, since a man 
of his peculiar characteristics could scarcely consent 
to become an idler at the king's court, leading an aim- 
less life ; besides, ample opportunity was offered for 
military life. Josephus says ]\Ioses commanded the 
Egyptian army in a great war waged against Ethiopia, 
and was eminently successful in his campaign. In 
the speech of Stephen recorded in the New Testament, 
Moses, during his Egyptian life, is declared to have 
been "mighty in word and in deed," which most nat- 
urally suggests his military exploits. Can we fail to 
see in all this the providence of God in preparing him 
to be the leader of the hosts of Israel, as he afterwards 
became? By education and training he was prepared 
for the threefold task he was destined to perform as 
historian, lawgiver and military leader. 

2. But we must hasten to consider Moses as an 
Arabian. At the age of forty, being compelled to flee 
from Egypt on account of having slain an Egyptian in 
defense of his own countryman, he took refuge in the 



LIFE AND WORK OF MOSES. 95 

land of Midian. He was received into the family of 
Jethro (Reuel) and married his daughter Zipporah. 
For forty years he was a servant, acting in the capacity 
of- a shepherd. We must not look upon him as a 
slave, but rather as a refugee who had been kindly 
received, perhaps, out of gratitude by the benevolent 
priest who afterward became his father-in-law. Moses, 
hitherto having led a very stirring life, now adopted 
a pastoral life well suited as another step in his 
preparations for his future work. Pastoral life is a 
wonderfully peaceful life, eminently favorable to reflec- 
tion and meditation, and hence to the development 
of wisdom of which he would stand in pressing need 
when the great burdens he was destined to bear should 
be laid upon his shoulders. He needed a long period 
of solitude that he might mature or ripen, so to speak, 
preparatory to the taking up of his great task. Many 
of God's great heroes have profited by periods of 
solitude. Elijah spent much of his life in the quiet re- 
sorts of Gilead ; John the Baptist was a desert man. Our 
Saviour grew up and matured in the quiet of Nazareth. 
Paul spent three years in Arabia just after his conver- 
sion. Luther was confined to a monk's cell for 
a considerable time. In short, periods of devout 
isolation seem to possess peculiar value in the devel- 
opment of a great personality. Then, too, Moses 
needed to be brought into a nearer and closer fellow- 
ship with God, and there is no condition so favorable 
for this as solitude. It is not always easy to hear 
the voice of God in the busy, seething throng. In 
the babel of the world's voices the voice of God is 
often lost. God said to Ezekiel : "Go forth into 
the plain and I will there talk with thee." In the 
solitudes of Arabia, while Moses kept his flocks, he 



96 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

enjoyed the most favorable conditions possible for com- 
ing into close fellowship with God, which was the 
preparation above all others that he needed most. 
To stand undaunted in the presence of Pharaoh it 
was necessary to stand in God's strength, conscious 
of his presence and sure of his help. 

3. Moses now became an Israelite indeed. At 
the end of forty years spent in the wilderness, he 
was miraculously arrested by the voice of God and 
sent, in company with his brother Aaron, to 
Egypt, to lead his people out of bondage. He per- 
formed many wonders, finally succeeding in deliver- 
ing his people. He gave them God's law from Sinai 
and transformed them, during a period of forty years 
spent in the wilderness march, from Egyptian serfs 
into a mighty nation. He was a man of wonderful 
gifts and acquirements, being a prophet, an historian, 
a lawgiver, a poet, a general, a statesman and a 
patriot. Patriotism has ever been characteristic of 
great souls. In all these directions he was mighty, 
easily ranking among the greatest historic charac- 
ters of the race. 

It is interesting to inquire : 

IV. Was Moses' work entirely new, or did he 
inherit something from others as a foundation on 
which to build? 

1. It is certainly evident that he made a distinct 
advance upon the political, social and religious ideas 
that prevailed among his people prior to his arrival 
upon the scene. That is, another decided step 
was taken in the direction of a fuller revelation, but 
without question he had a foundation to build upon 
of no uncertain or unimportant character. From the 



WORK NEW on INHERITED. 97 

beginning of creation down to Moses' time a right- 
eous line had been preserved to whom divine com- 
munications had been vouchsafed from time to time. 
The Hght, to be sure, was dim, fitly compared to 
starlight, but the people had some idea of God and 
of duty to him. They had sufficient light to clearly 
separate them from the Egyptians, whose religious 
ideas were crude, gross and sensual. However, the 
roots of idolatry had not yet been eradicated, nor 
was this fully accomplished until a thousand years 
had rolled by. The name Jehovah had been given 
to them as the name of the God of Israel. Even 
the more reasonable of the destructive critics admit 
that the more advanced portion of the people had 
reached a stage of henotheism, which is a long step 
from polytheism. However, the view that the 
masses of Israel were at this time henotheistic has 
slight support in the Scriptures. It is by no means 
a necessary inference. In point of fact it is a position 
necessitated by the exigencies of the theory of evo- 
lution, and it has been promulgated rather in the 
interest of the theory than as a fact deduced from 
the history given us. That Israel fully grasped, at 
this period, the doctrine of monotheism is not prob- 
able, but they w^ere gradually moving into larger 
conceptions of Jehovah and his omnipotence. 

2. The Egyptians had many ideas of govern- 
ment, law and medicine, and they had made great 
progress in military matters, w^ith all of which ]\Ioses 
must have become acquainted, to some extent at least, 
and which must have been very helpful to him. 

3. Then, too, Moses' residence in Midian must 
have been very valuable to him, not only in giving 
him time for mature reflection and communion with 



98 THE WORD OF TRUTH, 

God, but in affording him a knowledge of pastoral 
life, which was to be in a large measure the life of 
his people. Xo doubt his Midian experience was 
very useful to him during the forty years that he 
led his people in their journey ings through the 
desert. 

4. As to how much in the way of written historic 
matter may have come into the possession of Closes 
we are unable to determine, but certainly there was 
more or less of written history extant in the form 
of detached records and annals. If, as the critics 
claim, there is evidence in the Pentateuch of previous 
documents that entered into its composition, such 
a fact does not necessarily conflict with the ^losaic 
authorship of the document. 

5. It is claimed that a part of the precepts of 
the Decalogue were in existence before Moses' time. 
If this could be shown, does it make against the 
statement that Moses received the Decalogue, writ- 
ten by the finger of God on tables of stone? I trow 
not. I believe it to be a tenable position that God's 
primary revelations are found in the constitutional 
wants of the soul which it is the purpose of the 
secondary or word revelation to meet and satisfy. 
Where do we find the first revelation of an external 
world? In the sights and sounds and other sensuous 
evidences that come to us? I think, rather, in the 
ear and eye and organs of touch, taste and smell 
which are mute witnesses of the external world be- 
fore its sensuous evidences are recognized, ^^'here 
is the first revelation of God? In the external world 
and written word? Nay, rather in the soul so con- 
stituted as to receive and enjoy God and reach 
its fullest development only as God is apprehended 



WORK NEW OR INHERITED. 99 

in his true relations to the soul. If this be true, 
does it not follow that the external written law 
comes to meet the internal want, consciously or un- 
consciously present in the soul, and to which, there- 
fore, the soul responds and gives its sanctions? 
Then, as the religious nature reaches out after God 
and gives expression to some ideas of him and of his 
worship, that are just and true even where the verbal 
revelation has not gone, why may not the native 
craving for divine law, struggling after satisfaction, 
have given expression to some of the very precepts 
of the Decalogue? This suggestion, for I will not 
dignify it by the name "argument," may have but 
little weight; still, if it can be shown that some 
of the precepts of the Decalogue existed before 
Moses' time, such a fact would not discredit the 
Mosaic legislation or minimize its importance. 

6. But that Moses made a distinct advance in the 
Decalogue upon any previous code is not denied, so 
far as I know. For instance, the law against covet- 
ousness is a long step in advance. It carries sin from 
the external act to the internal desire. It recognizes 
not simply the overt act, but the inward purpose. 
It has been truly said that the moral standards laid 
down by Moses were never surpassed till the Ser- 
mon on the Mount was preached. This is certainly 
a very awkward fact for the theory of the destruc- 
tive critics to contend with, and how it can be 
reconciled with the theory of evolution is not 
apparent. Moses' perception of ethical truth was 
keen and marvelously clear. He laid the foundation 
of one of the most wonderful religions the world has 
seen, second only to the religion of Christ for which 



100 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

it prepared the way. His conceptions of religious 
truth were comprehensive, just and exceedingly high. 
While his people were in a measure tinctured with 
idolatry — and let it be conceded that some of them 
had not advanced beyond henotheism — yet Moses 
was clearly a monotheist. He had the true spiritual 
conception of the one true and living God. 

7. In conclusion, I will mention tw^o additional 
items that deserve at least a passing notice : 

(1) Moses' power of organization must have 
been of a very high order. To successfully organize 
such an undisciplined host, a people just released 
from a long period of bondage, mere children in 
knowledge and development, is a feat that stands 
imparalleled in the history of the world. One of R. 
G. Ingersoll's arguments against the Bible is based 
on this alleged fact, which he claimed was impossi- 
ble ; in fact, nothing short of a stupendous miracle 
which he rejected. In truth, does it not call for the 
supplementing of the human by the divine which 
is in perfect keeping with Moses' claim? It has 
been charged that ]\Ioses got his suggestion of or- 
ganization from Jethro, his father-in-law, but if this 
be true, he did not get his ability to successfully 
put the idea into practice. True, Jethro did suggest 
a certain kind of organization for the accomplish- 
ment of a particular work, but the general idea of 
organization did not come from Jethro. Closes was 
a successful organizer long before he received 
Jethro's suggestion, or he could never have success- 
fully led his people out of Egypt, and his subsequent 
success depended on forms of organization that 
Jethro's suggestion did not touch. 



WORK NE^Y OR INHERITED. 101 

(2) His principles of government were so true, 
so abiding, so comprehensive that they have come to 
underhe all beneficent forms of government, and par- 
ticularly republics. Closes was democratic in his 
feelings and sympathies. He was pre-eminently a 
man of the people, as all really great men have ever 
been. In this he resembles his great antitype, Jesus 
of Nazareth, who was the greatest commoner the 
world has seen. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Authorship of the Pentateuch — ^Two 
Rival Theories Considered. 

THE ANALYTICAL THEORY. 

The question as to the authorship of the Penta- 
teuch raises an issue over which a fierce battle is 
being waged, and, as was said in the previous lecture, 
the most tremendous and far-reaching consequences 
are involved. Let no one for a moment imagine that 
it is a matter of indifference as to which way the 
battle goes. To my mind, on the settlement of this 
question hangs the question as to whether we have 
The Bible or a bible ; A Book of Authority in morals 
and religion, or a book recording the efforts of unin- 
spired men to express their conceptions of God and 
spiritual truth. 

As already stated, there are two rival theories that 
lead to widely different conclusions as to the nature of 
this document, and consequently to widely divergent 
views as to the trustworthiness of its professedly 
historic narratives. This fact lends to this discus- 
sion a peculiar interest because of the tremendous 
consequences involved. 

I. Let us place the two theories side by side that 
we may see clearly wherein they differ. 

Here, however, I am confronted with a very great 
difficulty. To state the theory of the destructive 
102 



TWO THEORIES DIFFER. 103 

critics concisely and briefly, is a manifest impossi- 
bility, since it has taken on numerous forms, each 
differing from the others in certain particulars. The 
best that can be done is to reduce the theory to its 
lowest terms, which has been done by J. W. McGar- 
yey in his work entitled **The Authorship of Deuter- 
onomy," and whom I shall follow in my statement. 
This will at least reveal its broad general principles. 

1. The oldest, and what has been denominated 
the "traditional view," maintains that Moses wrote 
the Pentateuch, and that the laws recorded there came 
from God through him to the children of Israel. 
Those who hold this view do not deny that in pre- 
paring the historic matter, covering the period from 
Adam down to his own day, he may have made 
use of material gathered from reliable tradition, 
and from documents that may have been in exist- 
ence before his time, being guarded from mistakes 
by inspiration and using his material in a way that 
would not deny to him the real authorship of the 
production ; in short, as any first-class writer of his- 
tory uses the matter at his command. This view 
was entertained by the Israelitish nation from the 
beginning onward, if we may trust the statements 
found throughout the Old Testament Scriptures 
as well as those of the Jewish historians. This same 
view was generally entertained in the time of Christ 
and his apostles, as is abundantly shown by the 
New Testament writers. It also generally obtained 
for the first ten centuries of the Christian era or 
more, and it has been held by the great majority 
of Christians even down to the present time. 

2. The second theory, called the analytical or 
divisive hypothesis, has taken on different forms at 



104 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

different times, occasioned by efforts to relieve the 
particular forms of the theory most in favor at a 
given time from obvious inconsistencies and embar- 
rassing facts standing in its way.* It will be impos- 
sible to discuss the various hypotheses that arose 
each upon the ruins of the one that preceded it, nor 
is it necessary. Those who wish to go into the 
subject in detail may read with profit the presenta- 
tion of the conservative side by Prof. W. H. Green, 
in his work entitled ''The Higher Criticism of the 
Pentateuch," or Bissell's work on ''The Origin and 
Structure of the Pentateuch." The presentation 
from the opposite side can be found in the writings 
of any who accept the divisive hypothesis. Well- 
hausen's article on the Pentateuch in the Encyclope- 
dia Britannica is perhaps as satisfactory as any for 
a comparatively brief statement. Driver's "Introduc- 
tion to the Literature of the Old Testament" is much 
more extensive, but too technical for the ordinary 
reader. It is a noteworthy fact that none of the 
analytical theories are accepted by all of the divisive 
school without more or less modification. In fact, 
no two will agree on every point. The theory in its 
simplest form, and that has met with considerable 
sanction, may be briefly summarized as follows : 

(1) It is claimed by the most extreme party that 
Moses was the author of no part of the Pentateuch, 
except the Decalogue in a very much abridged form, or, 
rather, the most extreme party of all contend that 
Moses is not even a historical character, much less a 
writer of any part of the Decalogue. Some not quite 
so radical are willing to give him what is called the 



♦Professor Green in ''Higher Criticism of the Pentateuch. 



TWO THEORIES DIFFER. 105 

book of the covenant (Ex. 20: 23). The Mosaic 
writings are thus reduced to an exceedingly small 
compass at most. 

(2) As the starting-point of the Pentateuch as 
we now have it, two writings are assumed to have 
been produced about the eighth or ninth century 
B. C., which are designated as the Elohistic and 
Jevohistic documents, because it was supposed that 
Elohim was used exclusively to designate the Deity 
in one of these documents and Jehovah in the other, 
as was stated in a previous chapter. These docu- 
ments, it is claimed, entered into the composition of 
the Pentateuch, which, however, did not appear in 
its present form until three, four or five centuries 
later. It will be borne in mind that there is no 
historic reference to these documents, the evidence 
for them being found, as is claimed, in the structure 
of the Pentateuch, some portions of which have been 
assigned to one of these documents and some to the 
other, the ground of division being the use of the 
names for the Deity referred to above. That is,, 
the passages in which the name ''Elohim" is used 
are assigned to one document, and the passages in 
which "Jehovah" is used are assigned to the other. 
By separating out the passages belonging to their 
respective documents, and piecing them together, it 
is supposed that the original documents have, in part 
at least, been reproduced. The writers of these two 
documents, according to the hypothesis, repeated 
some things in common with slight variations, but 
each writing also contained some matter peculiar to 
itself, and the reconstructed documents are supposed 
to substantiate the hypothesis. But the analysis 
is by no means as simple as one might be led to 



106 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

conclude from this statement. ]\Iore documents are 
needed in order to account for the Pentateuch in its 
present form, which the theory very obligingly 
provides. 

(3) A third hypothetical document is next intro- 
duced, and assigned to a period somewhat later 
than the former two documents. This writing is sup- 
posed to have been produced by patching together 
sections taken alternately from Elohistic and Je- 
hovistic documents, the copyist, of course, selecting 
the matter in each document that suited his pur- 
pose, and here and there making some additions of 
his own. However, this document, according to the 
hypothesis, is largely a piece of patchwork, there 
being but little attempt on the part of the compiler 
at originality. When the third document appeared, 
the first two documents are then supposed to have 
been lost, leaving the literary curiosity just described 
as the only writing extant. T'he necessity for these 
hypothetical documents will presently appear. 

(4) Next follows the composition of a part of 
Deuteronomy, which, according to the divisive 
theory, was the first book of the Pentateuch Avritten, 
although in much shorter form than it afterward 
assumed in the hands of some unknown editor. The 
original book, it is supposed, contained only the 
legislative portion, in volume about one-third of the 
book as we now have it. This book, according to 
the hypothesis, was written by some unknown 
author in the early part of the seventh century B. C. 
and hidden away in the temple where it was found 
by Hilkiah, the priest, in 621 B. C, and brought to 
King Josiah, who was marvelously afifected by it, 
being led thereby to institute radical reforms. The 



TWO THEORIES DIFFER. 107 

authorship was ascribed to Moses, although it ap- 
peared seven hundred years after his time, the object 
being to lend to the book the authority of the great 
lawgiver, who was held in profound respect and 
veneration, although, according to the theory, he 
never wrote a single law except, perhaps, a short 
form of the Decalogue, and possibly one other brief 
document occupying the space of three or four 
chapters in Exodus, Notwithstanding this, it seems 
he had great prestige as lawgiver among the Israel- 
ites, since king, priest and people accepted the book 
without protest or any sign of reluctance, although 
it overthrew long-established customs, revolutionized 
the worship and laid unaccustomed burdens on the 
people. 

The whole scheme of writing and hiding the book 
in the temple where it must needs be found, is re- 
garded as a device of the metropolitan priests for 
centralizing the worship in Jerusalem, which, it is 
claimed, had hitherto been scattered. In proof of 
this, the passage in 1 Kings 14:23 is cited, where it is 
said: "They also" (Judah) ''built them high places, 
and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and 
under every green tree." From this and other pas- 
sages, it is inferred that there was no law restricting 
the worship to one place, and consequently that the 
legislation commonly regarded as Alosaic was not 
then in existence. It will be seen that up to this 
time, according to the analytical theory, but slight 
progress had been made toward the production of the 
Pentateuch in its present form. The third document 
that was mentioned, that displaced the two earlier 
documents, contained, it is supposed, a part of the 
matter now found in the Pentateuch, notably in 



108 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

Genesis, and the book found in the temple contained 
about one-third of the matter now found in Deuter- 
onomy, but no start had been made on the three 
books, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. 

(5) Sometime during the next few years, prob- 
ably before the Babylonian captivity, the theory 
assumes that another step was taken consisting of 
the writing of a body of laws by some unknown 
author, presumably some priest, which is called the 
priestly law, or law of holiness. These laws are 
embodied in the Book of Leviticus, chapters 17 to 
21. We now have the nucleus of a third book. 

(6) We next come to a very large step in the de- 
velopment. It is claimed that another book was 
written, about the close of the captivity, much larger 
than any preceding. The historical portions of the 
composite document that preceded the book found by 
Hilkiah are used, much new matter being introduced, 
giving us the Book of Genesis substantially as we 
now have it. He also composed what we may call 
a rough draft of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, 
embodying, of course, in Leviticus, the body of laws 
just referred to as the law of holiness. Nearly all 
of the matter found in the Pentateuch is now ac- 
counted for, but it is separated into four documents. 
Of course it would not do to combine these docu- 
ments without change, since possibly more or less 
of repetition and contradiction would be involved 
and there would certai'nly be an utter lack of unity. 

(7) The final step is then taken. Some unknown 
editor is supposed to have taken the four documents 
referred to, and out of them to have evolved the 
Pentateuch as we have it, adding original portions 
as the necessities of the case demanded. It is 



TWO THEORIES DIFFER. 109 

claimed that this final work is of such a nature that 
the scraps from the documents entering into it can 
be separated out and pieced together, so that the 
original documents, it is supposed, have thus been 
substantially reproduced. The process of analysis 
is so exact and refined that not only paragraphs, 
but sentences, and even parts of sentences, can be 
identified and placed in their original setting. 

I here call attention to the letters by which the 
various writers and documents are designated in 
critical discussions : E is used to designate the 
Elohistic writer, J the Jehovistic, R the editor who 
framed the document known as J E from the 
writings of J and E. D designates the Deuteronomic 
document found by Hilkiah in the temple, H the 
law of holiness incorporated in Leviticus (chaps. 
17-22), P the priestly writer who wrote the document 
embracing part of Genesis and the main body of 
Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. Thea comes an- 
other editor or redactor, who completed the Penta- 
teuch. Thus, instead of one author — Moses — we 
have at least five authors and two redactors who 
contributed to the production of the Pentateuch. 
As before stated, this is the simplest form of the 
theory; in fact, far too simple to meet all the re- 
quirements of the case. Other authors and redactors 
must needs be introduced to bolster up the theory 
and save it from breaking down. Hence, as Pro- 
fessor Green remarks.: ''The critics further distin- 
guish J-1 and J-2, E-1 and E-2, P-1, P-2 and P-3, 
D-1 and D-2, which represent different strata in the 
documents. Different redactors are embraced under 
the general symbol R; viz.: Rj, who combined J and 
E; Rd, who added D to J E, and Rh, who com- 



110 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

pleted the Hexateuch by combining P with 
J E D." This is the method that professedly Chris- 
tian critics ask us to believe that God adopted in 
giving a revelation to man. For unbelievers in a 
divine revelation to accept this theory seems to me 
to be entirely consistent, but I fail to see how 
believers can accept it except at the sacrifice of 
faith in the Bible as a revelation of God. 

Between these two hypotheses, therefore, I have 
no difiBculty in deciding in favor of the ^losaic 
authorship. The principal direct arguments sup- 
porting this position will be given in a subsequent 
chapter. The reason I here assign is a negative 
one. I accept the ^Mosaic authorship of the Penta- 
teuch because I am compelled to reject the divisive 
hypothesis which is the only alternative presented. 

I here submit : 

II. A feyv reasons that seem to be decisive 
against the analytical theory. 

1. The Pentateuch is a continuous work, ap- 
parently the product of a single writer, logically 
connected, and proceeding in an orderly way from 
first to last. There is a definite plan and a clearly 
defined purpose, toward which the movement is 
continuous from the first chapters of Genesis to 
the last chapter of Deuteronomy. This does not 
mean that there may not be an insertion occasion- 
ally, by some editor or copyist, of an explanator}' 
clause or passage, or even an account of some im- 
portant event, such, for instance, as the obituary 
notice of Moses, but these slight additions are but 
few at most, and do not in any way interfere with 
the integrity or unity of the writing. 



AGAINST ANALYTICAL THEORY, 111 

Another thing worthy of note is the fact that 
there are no sudden breaks showing violent tran- 
sitions, as would seem to be necessarily involved 
by the analytical theory. That such a writing could 
have been produced in the manner suggested, in- 
volves, as I believe, a literary impossibility. How a 
writing, made up of scraps or clippings from docu- 
ments independently produced, and so little changed 
that they can be separated out and assigned to their 
original writings, could show the qualities above 
described, surpasses my comprehension. If the Pen- 
tateuch were a heterogeneous mass of disconnected 
anecdotes and stories, the divisive theory would have 
a very strong argument in its support in the nature of 
the book itself, but, being such a book as it is, the 
theory is utterly discredited unless the claim of unity 
above put forth is not well founded, and this I do not 
think can be successfully opposed. 

2. Doubt is thrown upon the analytical theory by 
the fact that the method employed can be applied to 
other writings, the authorship of which no one would 
dream of calling in question, with similar results, as 
has been demonstrated again and again. Prof. W. H. 
Green, in an amusing way, applies the method to the 
analysis of the two stories, ''The Prodigal Son" and 
the "Good Samaritan," showing them to be of com- 
posite character. Prof. C. M. Mead (E. D. McReal- 
sham) shows the absurdity of the method, in his work 
entitled "Romans Dissected." The late Prof. H. 
Turner, once well known in Kentucky, wrote an 
article, which never found its way into print, but 
which I have in my possession, on "Julius Caesar a 
Myth," using the canons employed by the analytical 
school with telling effect. Professor Green also calls 



112 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

attention to the havoc wrought in the writings of 
Homer and in Cicero's orations by the methods of the 
destructive critics. In short, it is quite evident that 
almost any writing, whether historic or didactic, can 
be shown to be composite in character — that is, made 
up of diverse parts patched together — by the appHca- 
tion of the canons employed in the analysis of the 
Pentateuch. 

3. The analytical theory loses much of its force 
owing to the fact that the proofs upon w^hich the main 
reliance is put do not lend the support claimed for 
them. In other words, the fundamental principle of 
the analysis can not be rigidly enforced. 

It is true, as the advocates of the analytical theory 
claim, that the names "Elohim" and ''Jehovah" appear 
respectively in alternate sections in the early part of 
Genesis with considerable regularity. This somewhat 
singular fact is accounted for by assuming that the 
writer had before him two documents in one of which 
the name "Elohim" was used to designate God, and 
in the other the name "Jehovah" was used, and that 
the story as we now have it was made up by mechan- 
ically piecing together sections taken alternately from 
the two documents. This theory was first applied to 
Genesis, but afterward applied to the whole Penta- 
teuch. It was held, in the second place, that these 
alternate sections, when separated out and pieced 
together, formed two separate and independent narra- 
tives. It was furthermore maintained that in some 
cases the same event is twice narrated in Genesis with 
slight modification, thus pointing to two independent 
histories, embracing in part the same stories which 
were brought together by the mechanical process of 
construction above described. Finally, it is claimed 



AGAINST ANALYTICAL THEORY. 113 

that the two independent documents, when recon- 
structed, show such differences of Hterary style and 
such diversities of ideas as to make it clear that the 
original documents have been reproduced. As Pro- 
fessor Green clearly shows, the reasons for rejecting 
this apparently plausible theory are good and 
sufficient: First, the names *'Elohim" and "Jehovah" 
are not two names of God that are exact synonyms 
and can therefore be used interchangeably, but are 
used to express two distinct conceptions. Elohim is 
the general name used to express the God idea, 
whether applied to the one true and living God or to 
false gods. When applied to the true God it is used 
to express his relations to all nations of the world at 
large ; that is, God as creator and as exercising his 
general providence. The term "Jehovah" expresses 
God's special relations to individuals, and to Israel 
as his chosen nation. This distinction in the use of 
the names affords an explanation of the passage in 
Ex. 6:3, which reads as follows: "I appeared unto 
Abraham, unto Isaac and unto Jacob, . . . but 
by my name Jehovah I was not known to them." 
The advocates of the divisive hypothesis claim that 
according to this passage the name "Jehovah" was not 
known to the patriarchs, but was here announced to 
Moses for the first time, and that the prior use of this 
name was made by a writer who believed it had a 
much earlier origin. This objection, however, is 
shown to be groundless when the real meaning of the 
passage, as interpreted in the light of parallel pas- 
sages, is shown to be, not that the patriarchs had 
never heard the name "Jehovah," but that they had 
not known him as manifesting those special attributes 
and showing those providential dealings that the name 



114 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

implied, and which were now to be shown forth in a 
peculiar way in his dealings with Israel.* A further 
objection to the analysis founded on the use of the 
two names for the Deity, is found in the fact that it 
is impossible to adjust the two hypothetical docu- 
ments in harmony with this principle of division. Let 
it be borne in mind that the two writers designated as 
E and *J must each, by hypothesis, confine himself 
to his own characteristic designation for God. This 
use of the two names for the Deity is the fundamental 
principle of the analysis. If this criterion fails, the 
analytical theory is placed under grave suspicion, to 
say the least. In fact, it is hard to see how it can be 
saved from a total breakdown. 

Now, we would suppose that a theory that has 
been put forth with as much assurance as this has 
been, would show itself to be invulnerable at this 
vital point, but such is not the case. It has been 
found impossible to reconstruct the hypothetical 
documents in perfect agreement with the fundamental 
principle of the analysis. While a general conformity 
may be made to appear by a very careful division, 
but sometimes in a way that does violence to the 
sense of a passage by breaking asunder that which 
seems to be necessarily continuous, yet numerous 
exceptions occur baffling the utmost care and in- 
genuity to avoid them. Elohim is found in passages 
assigned to J, and Jehovah appears in E passages, 
and in P passages where Elohim should appear. This 
is exceedingly bad for the theory. It shows that the 
basal principle of the analysis for which so much 
is claimed is unreliable."^ 

As regards the claim that the reconstructed docu- 



* Prof. Green : "Higher Criticism of Pentateuch. 



AGAINST ANALYTICAL THEORY. 115 

ments are of such a nature as to indicate that the 
original documents have been measurably repro- 
duced, and that the style of the two is very different, 
it is a sufficient answer to say that the same results 
are produced by analyzing confessedly singular 
documents, and when doubt and uncertainty is cast 
upon the criterion or principle of division the results 
claimed for its application can have but little weight. 
The argument based on the differences in the style 
of the two reconstructed documents is, at best, vague 
and uncertain. 

4. The next reason for rejecting the analytical 
theory grows out of the fact that it is highly improb- 
able that Deuteronomy could have come into 
existence and into force in the manner suggested. If 
the theory is correct, it is the most successful pious 
fraud ever practiced upon an innocent and unsuspect- 
ing people. A similar instance can not be found in 
all the annals of history, and it is perfectly safe to 
say that such a case can never occur again. The 
very suggestion is almost an insult to common sense, 
and it utterly disregards human nature as it has ever 
shown itself to be in its leading characteristics. That 
a people should accept a book they had never heard 
of before as the writing of a man who had been 
dead seven hundred years, and a book, too, that 
demanded extraordinary sacrifice, and completely 
revolutionized long-standing religious customs, which 
is the hardest thing in the world to accomplish, is 
certainly a most unique and extraordinary fact. AVe 
must suppose that neither these people nor their 
ancestors for the twenty generations of their national 
history had ever heard of this law requiring a central 
sanctuary, and yet they accepted the newly discov- 



116 THE WORD OF TRUTH, 

ered code centralizing the worship without protest 
or question as the law of Moses, believing that it had 
been in existence since his day, hidden somewhere 
so securely that it had never been heard of, but had 
just now been discovered in the temple. Mirabile 
dictu. 

We can now see a reason for the preceding 
hypothetical documents. This newly discovered 
epoch-making book made certain allusions which de- 
manded pre-existing documents ; in fact, just such a 
background as is furnished for Deuteronomy in the 
previous books of the Pentateuch. Having therefore 
thrown away the previous books of the Pentateuch, or 
rather having assumed that they were not yet written, 
documents must needs be forthcoming to take their 
place, which would explain the references in Deuter- 
onomy. 

Is not the temptation very strong to regard the 
hypothetical documents as an invention to meet the 
demands of the partition theory, rather than to regard 
them as veritable historic documents proven to have 
had an existence by the application of reliable canons 
of criticism to the Pentateuch as we now have it? 
Can the average man be blamed for being slow to 
accept critical criteria as reliable which lead to such 
astonishing results? 

5. The acceptance of the analytical hypothesis 
necessarily weakens faith in the professedly historic 
character of the Pentateuch. Instead of being a book 
of history, it becomes a book of legend and fable. 
Instead of being a reliable record of historic facts, 
made by one who was an eye-witness of a great part 
of the history he records, and, in fact, was one of the 
main actors in the history, it is a piece of patchwork 



AGAINST ANALYTICAL THEORY. 117 

made up of documents written from six hundred to 
one thousand years after the events occurred, the first 
documents being written by two unknown authors, 
who gathered up the stories floating among the people 
of the northern and southern kingdoms, and out of 
these constructed the Elohistic and Jehovistic docu- 
ments. Is it possible to have any confidence whatso- 
ever in a history produced in this way? In fact, the 
theory in question utterly destroys the Pentateuch as 
a reliable book of history. It places it on a lower 
plane than the grotesque historical books of the 
heathen religions, because it removes its authors much 
further from the events which they profess to record. 
Who can believe in the historic verity of the facts 
recorded if this theory be true? Suppose we had no 
records or historic documents contemporary with 
William the Conqueror or with Christopher Colum- 
bus, who lived but half as long ago, what would 
history written now, bearing on the events of these 
periods, be worth? That is exactly what the critical 
method that some would have us believe is so inno- 
cent does for the historic facts recorded in the Penta- 
teuch. In short, we can not be sure that the 
Pentateuch records a single really historical incident. 
Can such views be regarded as harmless? Are they 
calculated to strengthen faith? Is the preacher, who 
in the quiet of his study saturates himself with such 
literature and enters into sympathy with it, better 
prepared for aggressive work in the kingdom of God, 
or for strengthening his brethren in the faith? 

But this is not the w^orst. The critics, as we have 
seen, tell us that the law of Moses was not given by 
Moses, barring possibly a few brief sentences of the 
Decalogue, and the more radical deny to him even 



118 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

that much ; that it is all an invention of later ages, a 
sort of cumulative code that began to be formulated 
probably as much as eight hundred years after Moses' 
time. It should be noted that the latest form of the 
theory makes the legislation of Deuteronomy the 
earliest part of the Pentateuch. What follows from 
all this? First, that the history reciting God's 
punishment of the Israelites for disobeying the law 
is necessarily fictitious, since there was no divine 
law for them to disobey ; second, discredit is thrown 
on all of the remaining books of the Old Testament, 
since they refer to the law as of Mosaic origin, and 
recite Israel's disobedience to the law, attributing the 
national misfortune to this cause ; third, we must 
believe that the author of Deuteronomy, in putting 
speeches into the mouth of Moses that he never 
uttered and attributing laws to him that he never 
promulgated, did that which can be justified on moral 
ground and which is in harmony with true ethical 
principles. Who can believe it? Fourth, the New 
Testament writers are also impeached, since they 
evidently shared the views of the Old Testament 
historians and prophets, and even the wisdom and 
knowledge of our Lord himself are called in ques- 
tion, since he evidently believed there was such a law- 
giver as Moses. Call me a fogy, if you will, and 
exclude me from the charmed circle of the scholars 
about whom so many complimentary things are said, 
but do not ask me to adopt a method of Biblical 
study which leads to such results and expect me to 
maintain my faith in Christianity and the inspiration 
of the Bible. I, therefore, am free to say that I con- 
template with alarm the inevitable tendencies and 
results of this critical method. I can not regard it 



AGAL\ST ANALYTICAL THEORY. 119 

as innocent and harmless. My fears, however, are 
greatly quieted by the fact that I do not believe that 
these theories will be accepted by the sober common 
sense of the religious world. This so-called "Method 
of Study" should share the fate of the rationalistic 
and infidel attacks upon the Bible, with which it may 
very properly be classed. 

6. To accept the analytical theory is virtually to 
give up faith in a divine revelation, other than that 
which gives expression to the supposed resident 
divinity in man ; for who can bring himself to believe 
that God has resorted to the method of the hypothe- 
sis in giving a revelation? To deny that the Penta- 
teuch is a divine revelation, logically leads to the 
denial of a divine revelation altogether. The subse- 
quent books of the Bible, almost without exception, 
refer to the Pentateuch and treat it as an inspired 
book, which really means that the whole Bible stands 
or falls together. It is so inter-related, so woven 
together by references, types and prophecies, that to 
cut out the Pentateuch is to destroy the book. I am 
well aware that many who are disposed to accept the 
critical hypothesis would resent the charge of not: 
believing that we have a revelation of God in the 
Bible. But one of two things is true : Either their 
idea of revelation is so radically different from all 
that has been commonly understood by that term, 
that it virtually amounts to a denial of special 
revelation, or they do not see the logical result to 
which the theory leads. The former class realize the 
revolutionary tendency of the hypothesis, and shrink 
from the terrible consequences involved, hoping, 
however, for a readjustment of faith in th^ 
Scriptures upon a new basis. 



120 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

7. Doubt is cast upon the theory under discussion, 
because none of the documents, which it is claimed 
existed as proven by the critical analysis, have sur- 
vived, nor is there a single outside reference to any 
of them in Hebrew literature or in the literature of 
the world. This is certainly a remarkable — and shall 
I not say a suspicious? — fact. After the documents 
of E and J were written, why did not some of the 
subsequent authors or editors refer to these docu- 
ments? Why did not the author of J E refer to his 
sources of knowledge? AVhy did not R refer to the 
three documents that he edited, expounded and sup- 
plemented? AA'hy did not the last redactor give at 
least some slight intimation of the four documents 
on which his editorial labors were expended? The 
silence of each author and redactor concerning all 
the writers that preceded him, and with whose. works 
he was dealing, is simply amazing! Finally under 
this head, since the work of the last redactor, the 
present Pentateuch written at least five hundred years 
B. C, has been preserved to us, how does it happen 
that the four documents he had in hand have all been 
lost? Are not these circumstances sufficient in them- 
selves to raise grave doubts, at least in the minds of 
the average reader? 

8. Confidence in the divisive hypothesis is greatly 
shaken by the fact that the critics who favor it have 
been in much conflict among themselves, the theory 
that was in favor at one time having been displaced 
by a rival theory at a later time, and even the judg- 
ment as to priority of the hypothetical documents 
having been reversed. If the conclusions in the past 
have been so uncertain that they have had to be 
abandoned one after another, what assurance have 



AGAINST ANALYTICAL THEORY. 121 

we that the theory that now meets with most favor 
will not have to be given up? In fact, the history of 
the whole case warrants such an expectation. 

9. Another reason for rejecting the analytical 
hypothesis is found in the fact that there are certain 
gaps or omissions, which the advocates of the theory 
claim would have been filled in if a single author had 
produced the document. In other words, one of the 
arguments urged in favor of the theory turns out to 
be against it when carefully examined. 

As instances in point, the failure to record at 
greater length the private life of Moses, the history 
of the sojourn in Egypt, and the details of the forty 
years' wandering in the wilderness are cited. But 
this simply shows with what singleness of aim the 
writer pursued his purpose, turning neither to right 
nor left to record interesting matter that did not bear 
directly on his subject. Let us suppose that the first 
documents were produced six or seven hundred years 
after Moses' time and made up of stories floating 
among the people, folk-lore as we might say. Is it 
to be supposed that none of these oral traditions bore 
upon the life of the Israelites in Egypt, or upon the 
incidents of the forty years' wandering in the wilder- 
ness, or upon the private life of Moses? If they did 
so, would the writers of the earliest documents have 
omitted all such matter, which in the very nature of 
the case would have had most interest for the people 
for whom they wrote? The gaps therefore that are 
urged as making against the Mosaic authorship turn 
out as making in a most positive way in its favor 
and decidedly against the analytical theory. 

10. Finally be it observed, that grave doubt is 
cast upon the analytical theory by the suspicious 



122 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

source from whence it came. That it has been held 
in most favor by rationalistic critics is not denied. 
Prof. W. H. Green says on this point: "It is a note- 
worthy fact that the partition hypothesis in all of its 
forms has been elaborated from the beginning in the 
interest of unbelief." Its chief advocates disclaim 
faith in the miraculous, and even deny its possibility. 
Such persons must necessarily take such views of the 
origin of the Pentateuch as will discredit the doctrine 
of inspiration, and of divine direction and interposi- 
tion in the affairs of the elect nation. In short, a 
great deal of the history given in the Pentateuch 
must be relegated to the realm of myth, legend and 
fable, and this is the logical and necessary result of 
the analytical theory. The story of creation, of the 
fall, of the flood, of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, of 
Joseph and the Egyptian bondage, of the giving of 
the law, of the tabernacle, and much if not all of the 
wilderness experience, are all set aside, being utterly 
discredited aS historical writing. We can readily see 
how persons holding such views can accept the 
divisive hypothesis ; in fact, it has been used by them 
to overthrow the traditional belief (so called) as to 
the origin of the Pentateuch. It has been reserved 
for us to witness the defense of this theory by pro- 
fessedly Christian scholars, not always, however, in 
the most radical form, but still in a form preserving 
its essential features. That many of these men are 
honest, sincere, devout, earnest men I do not doubt, 
but how their views of the Bible, of inspiration, of 
the origin of the Pentateuch, of the nature of the 
prophetic writings, can be held without utterly de- 
stroying Christian faith I do not understand, and 



AGAINST ANALYTICAL THEORY. 123 

that these views are destructive to faith in many 
individual cases is certainly true. 

The open opponents of the Bible parade the 
conclusions of the analytical hypothesis as their 
justification. In short, the theory in its infancy was 
fostered by unbelievers ; it has been vigorously pro- 
mulgated by unbelievers, and is now used as the 
weapon of unbelief. I cite the tirades delivered 
from the platform to-day by rationalistic and infidel 
lecturers in proof of this statement. There is an 
adage to the efifect that politics makes strange bed- 
fellows; it may be said with equal truth, the 
analytical theory of the Pentateuch makes strange 
bedfellows. Infidels set forth the results of the 
hypothesis as the Gibraltar of unbelief, and Christian 
scholars parade these same results as evidence that 
the religious world is coming to a more rational 
faith. In the meantime, the Christian layman who 
has been so unfortunate as to have been led by a 
minister tinctured with the teachings of the divisive 
critics, experiences a perplexity akin to that of Mary, 
who said, when she found Christ's sepulchre empty 
on the morning of the resurrection, "They have taken 
away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid 
him." 



CHAPTER VIIL 

The Authorship of the Pentateuch — Testimony 

Found in the Pentateuch, Historical 

Books and the Psalms. 

So far our argument in favor of the Mosaic author- 
ship of the Pentateuch has been indirect. We have 
assigned reasons which, if sound, would seem to be con- 
clusive against the divisive hypothesis. We will now 
bring forward some of the direct evidence going to show 
that the Pentateuch was written by Closes. 

I. We will first let the Pentateuch speak for itself 
on this question. 

1. When the book claims a definite authorship, that 
fact of itself raises a presumption in favor of such claim : 
nay, more, one of the strongest possible evidences of the 
authorship of a given production is the direct claim of 
the writer put forth in the w^ork itself. In fact, such 
testimony is justly held to be conclusive unless there is 
unimpeachable evidence showing it to be false. 

In view of this fact w^e are led to inquire : Does the 
Pentateuch make any claim as to authorship? That the 
legal portion claims to have been given by God through 
Moses is not disputed. That claim is put forth repeat- 
edly in the most positive and direct way. A little study 
of the writing will show very clearly that the claim as 
to the legal portion involves the historic portions as well. 
Even a casual examination of the document shows that 
124 



LET PENTATEUCH SPEAK, 125 

it consists of two portions : The historic, extending from 
the beginning of Genesis to the nineteenth chapter of 
Exodus, and the legal, extending from the twentieth 
chapter of Exodus to the close of Deuteronomy, but 
scattered through this legal portion is also more or less 
of historic matter. The legal portion is capable of 
being separated into three clearly distinct, yet closely 
related, parts. 

(1) First in order come the ten commandments, with 
the accompanying legislation constituting the covenant 
made with Israel (Ex. 20-23). This was the national 
charter or constitution, and it wsls called ''The Book of 
the Covenant." In Ex. 24: 4-7 it is said that Moses 
wrote this book and read it in the hearing of the people, 
and it was publicly ratified by appropriate ceremonies, 
a description of which is given. This was the great 
covenant to which previous covenants led, and out of 
which the succeeding covenants logically came. It re- 
mained in force until it was displaced by the new, or 
Christian, covenant. To deny the Mosaic authorship 
of all of this book of the covenant except the Decalogue 
portion in a very brief form, and give to it an origin 
nearly a thousand years beyond Moses' time, is virtually 
to deny that God made a covenant with Israel. 

(2) Now, out of this "Book of the Covenant" there 
naturally came a second body of laws, pertaining to the 
sanctuary and ritual. These laws and regulations were 
not all given at one time, but on different occasions as 
necessity demanded. It is all declared to have been given 
to Moses by God, and through him to Aaron and his 
sons, through whom, of course, it went to the people. 
It is known in critical discussions as the priest code and 
makes up no inconsiderable portion of the Pentateuch, 
occupying Ex. 25 to 31 and 35 to 40, largely the Book 



126 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

■of Leviticus, and the Book of Numbers, being min- 
gled with some historic matter throughout and espe- 
cially in Numbers. 

(3) Next in order comes the Deuteronomic code, 
which Moses is declared to have delivered to the people, 
and the year and month when it was done is specified — 
the eleventh month of the fortieth year of the wilderness 
wanderings. As introductory to this body of laws there 
are three addresses of Moses to the children of Israel 
in all respects suitable to the occasion. The whole sit- 
uation is reasonable, natural, unstudied, artless. There 
is not the slightest intimation, in word or circumstance, 
that the occasion is an imaginary one, invented in all its 
details seven hundred years after Closes' time. It thus 
appears that the entire law is ^losaic, if we are to believe 
the claims it puts forth. Now, the laws in Exodus, 
Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are so interwoven 
with the historic matter as to be practically inseparable. 
The history explains the occasion of the giving of the 
laws and thus forms the connecting links. Even the 
Book of Genesis and the first nineteen chapters of Ex- 
odus furnish the history preliminary to the giving of the 
law, and naturally lead up to it. 

(4) In addition to the writing of laws, in two in- 
stances Moses is said to have written history, and the 
account is of such a character as to indicate he was the 
proper and, by inference, the accustomed historian. He 
was specially instructed by God (Ex. 17: 14) to record 
the victory over Amalek, and a still more important case 
is found in Num. ZZ : 2, where ]\Ioses is commanded by 
God to write the ''goings out according to their journeys" 
of the children of Israel, which Moses did. The whole 
•chapter is given up to a detailed statement of these jour- 
nevs. About fiftv different stations are mentioned and 



LET PENTATEUCH SPEAK. 127 

occasional explanatory remarks are thrown in. This is 
a very troublesome chapter to the advocates of the 
divisive hypothesis. Imagine a man living a thousand 
years after Moses' time inventing such a chapter as this ; 
drawing on his imagination for the various journeyings, 
for the stations where the stops were made for longer 
or shorter periods, for the names of these imaginary sta- 
tions, and for all the incidents recorded as having trans- 
pired at them, and doing all this, not as a fiction, but in 
the sacred name of truth. Can any one believe for a 
moment that this was done? To read the chapter is to 
be convinced that it must have been written by an eye- 
witness. If answer is made that the final compiler of the 
Pentateuch may have gotten this material from docu- 
ments that have been lost, or from tradition, I answer: 
Why throw away the documents that claim to be Mosaic 
and then assume that other documents of the same 
nature may have existed which have disappeared so 
completely that no trace of them exists? If there were 
no such documents, but the history as we have it rests 
on traditions carried down for a thousand years, then it 
is evident the account has no historic value at all. 

This argument may be summed up as follows : The 
laws of the Pentateuch, constituting a very large part of 
the document, claim in the most positive way to be 
Mosaic. Genesis, and the early chapters of Exodus, give 
the necessary history preliminary to the giving of the 
law. The later history is very closely interwoven with 
the legal portions, being plainly connecting links. Moses 
in two cases is instructed by God to write historic matter 
showing he was the accustomed scribe. Thus the Penta- 
teuch is seen to be one complete work, of which the legal 
and historical portions are essential and mutually supple- 



128 THE WOED OF TBUTH. 

mentary parts. If Moses was the author of the legal 
portion, he was the author of the whole. 

2. It must therefore be very evident that those who 
deny that Moses wrote the Pentateuch contradict the 
claims as to authorship that the document makes for 
itself, and this logically carries with it a denial of the 
inspiration of the document. 

Those who take this position urge that it was the 
custom of antiquity to assign writings to some great 
name, and that such an act was not regarded as in any 
sense a violation of moral principle : that, in short, it was 
not looked upon as a falsehood, and consequently no 
moral turpitude attached to it. This may all be granted, 
and yet this fact fails to satisfy the demands in this case. 
The Pentateuch claims to be an inspired document, and 
whatever custom may have prevailed in ascribing author- 
ship to uninspired writings it can not apply to. inspired 
writings without making God a party to the fraud. God 
is virtually accused of accrediting his communications to 
the wrong person for the sake of the prestige that would 
thereby be given to them. Who can Delieve it? Is it 
not clear that to deny the ]\Iosaic authorship of the Pen- 
tateuch is to deny its inspiration? Such, at least, has 
been the view of the most prominent advocates of the 
divisive hypothesis. The theory is most surely the 
weapon of unbelief. 

II. The Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch is 
sustained by the references made to it in the his- 
torical books of Joshua onward. 

1. The Book of Joshua makes frequent allusions to 
it. It opens with the children of Israel just where they 
were left in Deuteronomy. The conquest of Canaan and 
its division was carried out according to ^^loses' orders. 



MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP SUSTAINED. 129 

Joshua is represented as having been very expHcit and 
exact in carrying out Moses' directions. In short, the 
Book of Joshua is based on the preceding books. Those 
who deny the genuineness of the Pentateuch are conse- 
quently compelled to throw Joshua overboard also. They 
include it with the Pentateuch under the name Hexa- 
teuch, explaining the origin of the whole in the same 
way. In other words, the claim is made that the 
book of the law when completed, which was about the 
time of the return from captivity, the final touches 
being given to it by Ezra, included the Book of Joshua 
instead of ending with Deuteronomy. Thus the his- 
toric character of Joshua is utterly discredited. 

2. The Book of Judges makes frequent allusions 
to events of the exodus and the wilderness march. In 
chap. 1 : 10, 20, we read, ''And Judah went against the 
Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron. . . . And they 
gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses had spoken." This 
is clearly a reference to Num. 14:24, where God com- 
mended Caleb for his courageous spirit, and declared his 
seed should possess the land. In chap. 11:16-18 the 
exodus is spoken of, the wilderness march is referred 
to, and the experiences with the kings of Edom, Moab 
and the Amorites are described. In chap. 2 : 1-3 there is 
reference to the deliverance from Egypt, to the covenant 
made with Israel, to the prohibition forbidding Israel 
to make covenants with the inhabitants of Canaan, and 
to the promise of God that he would drive out the inhab- 
itants of Canaan from before Israel. All this is based 
on the history furnished in the Pentateuch. In chaps. 
13: 7, 14 and 16: 17 reference is made to the Nazarite 
vow and its requirements. This is provided for in Num. 
6 : 1-5. It is unnecessary to pursue this inquiry further 
by citing specific references. In almost every chapter 



130 THE WORD OF TRUTH, 

of the book allusions to points of history and' items of 
legislation, found in various parts of the Pentateuch 
and especially in Numbers, can be found. It is also 
worthy of note that Israel under the judges was 
governed in harmony with a Deuteronomic law. 

3. In the Book of Rtith (chaps. 3: 12 and 4:3, 4) 
reference is made to the law concerning the redemption 
of land, as recorded in Lev. 25:25. In chap. 4:5, 10, 
the law concerning the marriage of a widow by the dead 
husband's brother is referred to. This law is found in 
Deut. 25: 5,6. In chap. 4: 11, 12, reference is made to 
Rachel and Leah, wives of Jacob, and to Tamar, wife 
of Judah, which clearly shows an acquaintance with the 
story as recorded in Genesis. It is clear, therefore, that 
the writer of the Book of Ruth was acquainted with 
both the history and laws of the Pentateuch. 

4. The Books of 1 and 2 Samuel also abound in ref- 
erences to the Pentateuch. Chap. 1: 11 refers to the 
Nazarite vow described in Xum. 6 : 5. Chap. 2 : 13 
refers to the Deuteronomic law concerning the por- 
tion of the priests. 

Chap. 2 : 27, 28 refers to the choosing of Aaron, and 
to the Ephod, which shows an acquaintance with Exodus. 
In chapters 6, 7 and 9 the various offerings are men- 
tioned — peace-offerings, trespass-offerings, burnt-offer- 
ings — which shows a knowledge of the whole ritual of 
worship. 

Chap. 12:6, 8 refers to Jacob's going into Egypt, 
and to the deliverance wrought in answer to the prayer 
of the oppressed people, which shows an acquaintance 
with the history given in Genesis. Chap. 15: 2, 6 refers 
to the opposition of Amalek to Israel, the history of 
which is recorded in Exodus. 



MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP SUSTAINED. 131 

2 Sam. 7: 6 refers to the deliverance of the children 
of Israel and to the fact that God dwelt with them in 
tent and tabernacle and verses 22-24 refer to the re- 
deeming of Israel from Egypt to be the peculiar people 
of God, all of which clearly refers to the history given 
in Exodus. 

2 Sam. 6 : 13-17 represents David as bringing the ark 
into the city of David in the manner prescribed by Closes 
for the bearing of the ark, and oiTerings are made ac- 
cording to the law. 

It is needless, however, to burden this chapter 
further with citations of Pentateuchal material in the 
Books of Samuel. Only a small portion has been 
used, but sufficient to clearly show that the Penta- 
teuch was well known to the waiter. 

5. In 1 and 2 Kings the references to the Pentateuch 
are very abundant, a fact which is not disputed so far 
as Deuteronomy is concerned, but the references to Ex- 
odus, Leviticus and Numbers are equally as clear. The 
general plan of Solomon's temple described in 1 Kings is 
the same as that of the tabernacle described in Exodus; 
the vessels, furniture, apartments, all show a close re- 
semblance to corresponding things in the tabernacle. 

The great feast on the occasion of the dedication of 
the temple was held at the time and in the manner 
appointed for celebrating the feast of the tabernacles, 
as ordained and described in the twenty-third chapter 
of Leviticus, and the people came to the feast from over 
the whole land, the extent of which is given just as the 
limits are described in Num. 34, when God delineated 
to Moses the boundaries of the promised inheritance. 

The ark that had been in the tabernacle is mentioned 
as containing the two tables of stone put there by Moses 
at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the 



132 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

children of Israel when they came out of the land of 
Egypt. 

Finally it is said that the cloud filled the house, and 
the glory of the Lord was manifested exactly in the 
manner described in Exodus as having taken place when 
Moses had finished the tabernacle. 

In perfect accord with all this, Solomon was charged 
to keep the statutes, etc., "according to that which is 
written in the law of Moses," which shows there was a 
recognized body of laws known by that title, and that 
the temple ritual was to be a continuation of that or- 
dained and observed under Moses. 

6. In 1 and 2 Chronicles, which were originally one 
book, reference is made to the law of Moses just as is 
done in the Books of Kings. 

In 1 Chron. 6: 49 we read that Aaron made ofitering 
''according to all that Moses the servant of God had com- 
manded." In chap. 15: 15 the Levites are said to have 
borne the ark "as Moses commanded." In chap. 22: 13 
David is represented as telling Solomon that he would 
prosper if he observed "the statutes and judgments which 
the Lord charged Closes with concerning Israel." 

In 2 Chron. 8: 13 Solomon is represented as perform- 
ing the service in the temple he had built "according to 
the commandment of Moses." The offerings of the 
Sabbaths, new moons and the three annual feasts are 
mentioned, and references to the law of ]\Ioses and the 
Mosaic ritual are numerous, showing an intimate ac- 
quaintance therewith. 

7. The Books of Ezra and Xehemiah, giving the 
history subsequent to the captivity, make reference to 
the law of ]\Ioses just as the other historical books do. 
In Ez. 2: 2, Zerubbabel, together with the other priests, 
is declared to have builded an altar for sacrifice "as is 



MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP SUSTAINED. 133 

written in the law of Moses," and chap. 6: 18 declares 
the priests and Levites were appointed in their courses 
for the service of God in Jerusalem "as it was written 
in the law of Moses." And chap. 7: 6 declares Ezra to 
have been "a ready scribe in the law of Moses." 

Neh. 8 : 1 represents the people as requesting Ezra 
to bring ''the book of the law^ of Moses," and verse 18 
represents Ezra as reading the book to the people. Chap- 
ters 1, 8, 9, 10 and 13 also refer to the law given to 
Moses or by Moses. Thus it is clear that the historical 
books from Joshua to Nehemiah make reference to the 
books of the Pentateuch, and especially to the law of 
Moses. 

To accept the divisive hypothesis means: (1) To dis- 
credit the Book of Joshua, making it a mere piece of 
fiction invented a thousand years after Moses' time; (2) 
to discredit the other Bible historians on the ground 
that they deliberately falsify or ignorantly allude to 
erroneous beliefs current in their time. If the former 
alternative be accepted, the credibility of the historians 
is utterly destroyed ; if the latter, then of course they did 
not write by inspiration, and the charge of falsehood, 
while removed from them, is laid at the door of some 
one else. And note, too, the very aggravated form of 
the falsehood. It is not only a misstatement or misrepre- 
sentation of facts, but it sacrilegiously misrepresents 
God, calling him into an unholy partnership in per- 
petrating deceptions of the most flagrant character. 

It is urged that there are some historic statements 
pointing to a later date for the Pentateuch than that of 
Moses, but assuming that a few passages may have been 
added by a later editor, such, for instance, as Gen. 
36:31-40, referring to the kings that reigned in Edom 
before there was any king in Israel (which seems to 



134 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

imply that it was written subsequent to the period of the 
judges), and the obituary notice of Moses in the last 
chapter of Deuteronomy, we have a satisfactory explana- 
tion of the difficulties. But it would seem to be better 
to face any difficulty, howsoever great, connected with 
the Mosaic authorship, than to face the awful conse- 
quences involved in the analytical hypothesis ; conse- 
quences that even the less radical and more devout 
advocates of the theory contemplate with serious mis- 
givings, and even with alarm. 

III. Passing now^ to the Book of Psalms, we 
find the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch clearly 
indicated. 

1. We would not expect references to the Pentateuch 
in such books as Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, owing 
to the peculiar character and purpose of the writings. 
They have no occasion or room for historic or legal 
allusions or references. It may, however, be observed 
that the spirit and moral tone of these writings, and the 
evident view of the writers as to the nature and char- 
acter of God, and the principles of his moral govern- 
ment, are in perfect accord with the ethical and religious 
temper of the Pentateuch. 

But while we would not expect references to the 
Pentateuch in the books just mentioned, the case is very 
different as respects the Psalms. This is a book of song, 
expressive of a wide range of sentiment and emotion. 
Gratitude, devotion, confidence, joy, yearning after 
righteousness, penitence, patriotism, and many other 
feelings, find expression in appropriate poetic form, 
and hence historic events that inspire such sentiments are 
very naturally referred to. Furthermore, here we have 
the subjective feature of religion presented in contrast 



INDICATED IN PSALMS, 135 

with the outward ceremonial aspect, and consequently 
the law in its subjective application and meaning is 
brought out. As we might expect, there are many 
Pentateuchal allusions and references to the law of 
Moses. The Psalms that are ascribed to David, some 
seventy-three in number, abound in such references or 
in the use of passages that clearly show a familiarity 
with Pentateuchal literature."^ The question arises: 
How is this fact accounted for by the divisive critics, 
since according to their theory no part of the Penta- 
teuch, as we now have it, came into existence for four 
hundred years after the last Davidic Psalm was penned, 
and even the two oldest hypothetical documents, E and J, 
were not produced for at least a hundred, and possibly two 
hundred, years after David's time. The divisive critics, 
however, seem to have no great difficulty in dealing with 
a matter of this kind. They simply deny to David, on 
various grounds, the authorship of all but ten Psalms, 
and some would not grant to him more than half that 
number. The great body of the Psalms are placed in the 
period after the exile, and consequently after the Penta- 
teuch was written. We can not here go into a discussion 
as to how many and which Psalms are Davidic, but let 
us take those that are commonly accepted by the more 
reasonable critics as Davidic; namely, the third, fourth, 
seventh, eighth, eleventh, eighteenth, nineteenth, twenty- 
fourth, twenty-ninth and thirty-second — ten in all. 

Now, if in these practically undisputed Davidic 
Psalms there are passages that clearly indicate that the 
writer was familiar with the books of the Pentateuch, 
then as a matter of course these books were in existence 
in David's time, and consequently the existence of the 



*See "Higher Criticism of the Pentateuch," by Prof. W. H. 
Green, p. 56, for a collection of references. 



136 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

Pentateuch is carried back five hundred years beyond 
the time assigned by the divisive theory. 

2. An examination of the Davidic Psalms shows that 
the case just stated hypothetically is an actual fact. That 
is, many of David's sentiments and phrases indicate a 
familiarity with the Pentateuch, so much so that his 
writings were colored and many of his phrases shaped 
by it. 

(1) Ps. 3: 3. 

''But thou, O Lord, art a shield about me ; 
My glory, and the lifter up of mine head." 

Gen. 15 : 1, 

''After these things the word of the Lord came 
unto Abram in a vision, saying. Fear not, Abram ; I 
am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." 

(2) Ps. 4:5. 

"Offer the sacrifices of righteousness 
And put your trust in the Lord." 

Deut. 33 : 19. 

"They shall call the peoples unto the mountain ; 
There shall they ofifer sacrifices of righteousness." 

(3) Ps. 4: 6. 

"Many there be that say, Who will show us any good? 
Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon 
us." 

Num. 6: 25, 26. 
"The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be 
gracious unto thee ; 
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give 
thee peace." 



INDICATED IN PSALMS. 137 

(4) Ps. 4: 8. 

"In peace will I both lay me down and sleep; 
For thou, Lord, alone makest me dwell in safety." 

Lev. 25 : 18, 19. 

"I am the Lord your God. Wherefore ye shall do 
my statutes, and keep my judgments and do them; and 
ye shall dwell in the land in safety. And the land shall 
yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and shall dwell 
therein in safety." 

(5) Ps. 7: 12, 13. 

"If a man turn not, he will whet his sword ; 
He hath bent his bow, and made it ready. 
He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death ; 
He maketh his arrows fiery shafts." 

Deut. 32: 23, 41, 42. 

"I will heap mischiefs upon them ; 

I will spend mine arrows upon them; 

If I whet my glittering sword. 

And mine hand take hold on judgment; 

I will render vengeance to mine adversaries^ 

And will recompense them that hate me. 

I will make mine arrows drunk with blood. 

And my sword shall devour flesh ; 

With the blood of the slain and the captives." 

Must not fair literary criticism say that the writer 
who penned these passages in the Psalms had knowledge 
of the above passages quoted from the Pentateuch ? 

(6) Ps. 8: 5-8. 

"For thou hast made him but little lower than God, 
And crownest with glory and honour. 



138 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of 

thy hands : 
Thou hast put all things under his feet ; 
All sheep and oxen. 
Yea, and the beasts of the field; 
The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea. 
Whosoever passes through the paths of the seas." 

(7) Gen. 1: 26, 28. 

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after 
our likeness : and let them have dominion over the fish of 
the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, 
and over all the earth, and over everything that creepeth 
upon the earth. And God blessed them ; and God said 
unto them. Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the 
earth, and subdue it ; and have dominion over the fish 
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every 
living thing that moveth upon the earth." 

Can any one doubt that the writer of the first pas- 
sage was familiar with the second? 

(8) Ps. 11: 6. 

"Upon the wicked he shall rain snares ; 
Fire and brimstone and burning wind shall be the por- 
tion of their cup." 

Gen. 19: 24. 

"Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon 
Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of 
heaven." 

(9) Ps. 18: 13-15. 

"The Lord also thundered in the heaven, 
And the Most High uttered his voice; 
Hailstones and coals of fire. 



INDICATED IX PSALMS. 139 

And he sent out his arrows and scattered them ; 

Yea, Hghtnings manifold, and discomfited them. 

Then the channels of water appeared, 

And the foundations of the world were laid bare, 

At thy rebuke, O Lord, 

At the blast of the breath of thy nostrils." 

Ex. 15: 7, 9. 

*^'\nd in the greatness of thine excellency thou over- 
throwest them that rise ud against thee : 
Thou sendest forth thy wrath, it consumeth them as 

stubble. 
And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were 

piled up, 
The floods stood upright as an heap ; 
The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea." 
The last reference is taken from Moses' song of vic- 
tory after the passage of the Red Sea by the Israelites. 
The preceding reference from Psalms shows that David 
was familiar with Moses' song. 

(10) Ps. 18:26. 

*'With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure ; 
And with the perverse thou wilt show thyself froward." 

Lev. 26:23, 24. 

"And if by these things ye will not be reformed unto 
me. but will walk contrary unto me ; then will I also 
walk contrary unto you ; and I will smite you, even I, 
seven times for your sins." 

(11) Ps. 18:31. 

'Tor who is God save the Lord? 
And who is a rock beside our God?" 



140 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

D-ut. 32:37, 39. 

"And he shall say, Where are their gods, 
The rock in which \they trusted ? 
See now that I ever am he, 
And there is no god with me." 

(12) Ps. 18: 33. 

"He maketh my feet like hind's feet; 
And setteth me upon high places." 

Deut. 32: 13. 
"He made him ride on the high places of the earth, 
And he did eat the •increase of the field." 

Also 33 : 39, last half. 
"And thine enemies shall submit themselves unto thee ; 
And thou shalt tread upon their high places." 

(13) Ps. 18: 44. 

"As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me, 
And strangers shall submit themselves unto me." 

Deut. 33 : 29. 
"Who is like unto thee, a people saved by the Lord, 
The shield of thy help, 
And that is the sword of thy excellency! 
And thine enemies shall submit themselves unto thee." 

Note that in these examples David uses the exact 
phrases or the exact thought found in the passages cited 
from the Pentateuch. Can any one regard all this as 
mere coincidence? 

(14) Ps. 19: 7-11. 

"The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul , 
The testim.ony of the Lord is sure, making wise the 

simple. 
The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; 



INDICATED IN PSALMS. 141 

The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the 

eyes. 
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever ; 
The judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous 

altogether. 
More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much 

fine gold ; 
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 
Moreover, by them is thy servant warned; 
In keeping of them there is great reward." 

Who can read this and believe that David did not 
have the Mosaic law in mind when he penned it? No 
one, it seems to me, unless he is so blinded by a theory as 
to be unable to discern that which is perfectly clear. 
As Professor Green remarks, the whole Psalm presents 
the glory of God 'as revealed in the heavens with the 
glory of God as revealed in his law, but what law can 
possibly be meant if not the law of Moses? 

(15) Ps. 24: L 

"The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; 
The world, and they that dwell therein." 

Ex. 9:29. 

''And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone 
out of the city, I will spread abroad my h-:,.ids unto the 
Lord ; the thunders shall cease, neither shall there be 
any more hail; that thou mayest know that the earth is 
the Lord's." 

Also 19: 5. 

"Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and 
keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure 
unto me from among all peoples; for all the earth is 
mine." 



142 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

(16) Ps. 24:2. 

"For he hath founded it upon the seas, 
And estabhshed it upon the floods." 

Gen. 1 : 9. 
■''And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be 
gathered, and let the dry land appear. 
And it was so." 

Where could Da\id have gotten the idea if not from 
this verse? 

(17) Ps. 29: 10. 

"The Lord sat as a king at the flood; 
Yea, the Lord sitteth as king for ever." 

Gen. 6: 17. 

"And I, behold, I do bring the flood of waters upon 
the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of 
life frorri under heaven ; everything that is in the earth 
shall die." 

3. We have only examined nine Psalms, all of which 
are confessedly Davidic, at least with the more reason- 
able portion of the divisive school, and we have seen that 
many of the unique phrases of the Pentateuch are used 
by David, and we have also seen that often he expresses 
thought strikingly similar to that found in the Penta- 
teuchal passages. Now, if David was familiar with the 
Pentateuch, we have an adequate and satisfactory ex- 
planation of the phenomena presented ; but if there was 
no Pentateuch in David's time, how can these agreements 
in thought and phraseology be accounted for? If the 
other Psalms which have commonly been ascribed to 
David are examined, they present the same phenomena 
which those examined have shown, which serves to 
strengthen the argument with those who believe that a 



INDICATED IN PSALMS. 143 

much larger number of Psalms should be ascribed to 
David than the ones named. 

This mode of argument is considered sound in dis- 
cussing any other literature. Why not here ? I believe 
it is. A writer unavoidably, and often unconsciously, 
reveals the spirit and more or less of the phraseology 
of the literature he reads, and especially if he has made 
it a study. Many of our best writers and speakers have 
been so saturated by Biblical literature that Biblical 
sentiments and phrases crop out in all they write and 
say, and one familiar with the Bible is never in any doubt 
as to the source of these peculiar sentiments and phrases. 
The Davidic Psalms present an exact parallel to the illus- 
tration just cited. I can see no way of avoiding the force 
of this unless the examples adduced are held to be mere 
coincidences, which, to say the least, is very improbable, 
if not absolutely impossible. 

4. In conclusion, upon this branch of the subject 
permit me to remark that to take all of the Psalms 
away from David, or even to reduce the number of 
Davidic Psalms to ten, seems to me to be a procedure 
not only wholly unnecessary, but very unreasonable. 
The grounds upon which this is done are oftentimes very 
frivolous.* That David occupied a large place in the 
thought, reverence and love of the Hebrew nation can 
not be disputed. Is it likely that his productions would 
have been lost? If not, where are they if not in the 
Psalms attributed to him? If he did no writing, how 
did it happen that so many productions are ascribed to 
him? He has, by common consent, been regarded as 
the father of Hebrew poetry. He has held this posi- 
tion in the minds of his people from a period antedating 

*'P'or a helpful discussion of this subject, see "Principles of 
Biblical Criticism," by J. J. Lias, chapter 7. 



144 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

the Christian era. How could such an idea ever have 
gained credence if it had no basis in fact, or at best a very 
sHght foundation, such as would be furnished by at most 
ten short Psalms? There are Psalms ascribed to David 
that fit too closely the picture drawn of him in the his- 
torical books to be mere coincidences. Read the story 
of David's great sin against Uriah and Nathan's brave 
and faithful denunciation, and then read Psalm 51. Is 
not the correspondence too exact to admit of any doubt 
as to the Davidic authorship? Other examples equally 
striking can be cited. Psalm 68 is a song of exultation 
and joy. Could such a Psalm have been penned by any 
one soon after the exile, when the nation was in most 
deplorable condition, materially and politically? The 
Psalms that are confessedly post-exilic breathe a very 
different spirit. There is a minor chord in the music, 
telling plainly the depressed state of mind In which the 
authors wrote, occasioned by the apparently hopeless con- 
dition of the nation. To put the great Psalms of exulta- 
tion after the exile, such as the one ascribed to David 
after his victory over Saul, involves, as I verily believe, 
a psychological Impossibility. Another thing to be noted 
is the fact that here, as elsewhere, the advocates of the 
analytical theory do not hesitate to contradict New Testa- 
ment utterances. 

Our Lord refers to Psalm 110 (Mark 12:36) as a 
Psalm of David, and Peter In his Pentecostal sermon 
makes Psalm 16 Davidic. Neither of these are given 
to David by even the more conservative school of the 
divisive critics. 

With me the conviction Is growing stronger contin- 
ually that the effort to drag the whole bodv of the Psalms 
down to the post-exlllc period Is suoerlnduced by the 
needs of the analytical theory, rather than by Internal 



INDICATED IN PSALMS. 145 

evidence, historical or otherwise, found in the Psalms 
themselves. Unless practically all of the Psalms are 
made post-exilic, the theory of the post-exilic origin of 
most of the Pentateuch is utterly discredited. 

We have now seen that the testimony of the historical 
books and the Psalms is most positively in favor of the 
Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. This, added to 
the fact that the Pentateuch makes the same claim for 
itself, ought to have great weight in deciding the ques- 
tion. In fact, such evidence never ought to be set aside 
by an unproven hypothesis. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Authorship of the Pentateuch — ^Testimony 

of the Prophetic Books and in the 

New Testament. 

We have seen that the Pentateuch bears witness to the 
Mosaic authorship in the most unequivocal and emphatic 
way. We have also seen that historic writers testify to 
the same fact with no uncertain sound. The Psalms of 
David seem to be permeated with the spirit and phrase- 
ology of the Pentateuch, which fact unquestionably 
points to an early authorship, and therefore argues for 
the Mosaic authorship. One class of Old Testament 
writers remains still to be heard from on this important 
question. We next inquire: 

I. Do the prophetic books furnish any evidence 
concerning the authorship of the Pentateuch? 

We need not come down the line farther than Jere- 
miah, who wrote about the beginning of the captivity, 
and subsequent to the reformation under Josiah. 621 B. 
C, when, according to the analytical theory, Deuteron- 
omy, or at least the legislative portion of it, was first 
promulgated. Pentateuchal references found in books 
written after Jeremiah's time, and especially after the 
exile, would not be admitted bv the divisive school as 
favoring the Mosaic authorshiD. Of course the direct 
testimony of prophets, no matter when thev wrot<^. will 
have weight with those who believe that thev 3ooke as 
146 



EVIDENCE OF PROPHETIC BOOKS. 147 

they were moved by the Holy Spirit, but it will have na 
weight with those who reject the doctrine of inspiration,, 
except in the emasculated form referred to in previous 
pages, and references to Pentateuchal institutions and 
laws in prophetic books put forth after the assigned 
date of the Pentateuch must therefore pass unnoticed. 

But this by no means shuts out testimony from 
Hebrew prophets that bears on this question. 

1. We will let Amos be our first prophetic witness. 
He wrote in the eighth century B. C, about 130 years 
before Deuteronomy was written according to the 
divisive critics, and 250 years before the Pentateuch 
was completed at the hands of the last redactor. 

(1) He seems to have been acquainted with the 
history of Jacob and Esau, and the perpetual enmity en- 
gendered on account of Jacob's sharp practice in obtain- 
ing the birthright. It will be borne in mind that Edom 
is another name for Esau, and the Edomites are Esau's 
descendants and inherited Esau's dislike of Jacob and his 
descendants : 

Amos 1: 11: "Thus saith the Lord: For three trans- 
gressions of Edom, yea, for four, I will turn away the 
punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother 
with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger 
did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever." 

Gen. 25 : 27-34 gives an account of the manner in 
which Jacob obtained the birthright, and the reference 
in Amos shows an acquaintance with the story. 

(2) Places rendered sacred 'by their connection with 
the fathers of the nation are mentioned in connection with 
the idolatry of the people, for the sake of the dramatic 
efifect, which shows he was acquainted with the history 
of the fathers of his nation, as given in Genesis : 

Amos 4: 4: ''Come to Beth-el, and transgress; to 



148 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

Gilgal, and multiply transgression: and bring your sac- 
rifices every morning, and your tithes every three days." 
Amos 5:5: "Seek ye me, and ye shall live : but seek 
not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer- 
sheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and 
Beth -el shall come to naught." 

(3) He was acquainted with the history of the Ex- 
odus and the forty years' wandering in the wilderness. 
Where did he get the facts if not from the Pentateuch? 

Amos 2:10: ''Also I brought you up out of the land 
of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness, to 
possess the land of the Amorite." 

Also 3:11: "Hear this word that the Lord hath 
spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the 
whole family which I brought up out of the land of 
Egypt." 

(4) He knew of Israel's idolatry in the wilderness: 
Amos 5: 25, 26: "But let judgment roll down as 

waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Did ye 
bring unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilder- 
ness forty years, O house of Israel? Yea, ye have borne 
Siccuth your king and Chiun your images : the statue 
of your god, which ye made to yourselves." 

Such quotations point to a knowledge of such pas- 
sages as the following: 

Deut. 2: 6: "I am the Lord thy God, which brought 
thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bond- 
age." 

Also 29 : 5 : "And I have led you forty years in the 
wilderness; your clothes are not waxen old upon you, 
and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot." 

(5) He was acquainted with the story of the giants 
encountered by the spies sent to spy out the land of 
Canaan : 



EVIDENCE OF PROPHETIC BOOKS. 149 

Amos 2: 9: "Yet destroyed I the Amorite before 
them, whose height was Hke the height of the cedars, and 
he was strong as the oaks, yet I destroyed his fruit from 
above and his root from beneath." 

This plainly points to Num. 13 : 32, 33 : "And they 
brought up an evil report of the land which they had 
spied out unto the children of Israel, saying. The land, 
through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that 
eateth up the inhabitants thereof, and all the people that 
we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we 
saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, which came of the 
Nephilim, and we were in our own sight as grasshop- 
pers, and so we were in their sight." 

Deut. 1 : 20 and 26-28: "And I said unto you, Ye are 
come unto the hill country of the Amorites, which the 
Lord our God giveth unto us. Yet ye would not go up, 
but rebelled against the commandments of the Lord our 
God ; and ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because 
the Lord hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the 
land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amor- 
ites, to destroy us. Whither are we going up? Our 
brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, The people 
is greater and taller than we." 

(6) He had knowledge of the national feasts, sacred 
seasons, sacred days, burnt-offerings, meal-offerings, 
peace-oiferings, thank-offerings, freewill-offerings and 
drink-offerings : 

Amos 5 : 21, 22 : "I despise your feasts and I will take 
no delight in your solemn assemblies. Yea, though ye 
offer me your burnt-offerings and meal-offerings, I will 
not accept them : neither will I regard the peace-offer- 
ings of your fat beasts." 

Amos 4 : 5 : "Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of 
that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill-offerings 



150 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

and publish them; for this Hketh you, O ye children of 
Israel, saith the Lord." 

(7) He recognized the central sanctuary at Jeru- 
salem as the place where God is localized : 

Amos 1:2: "The Lord shall roar from Zion, and 
utter his voice from Jerusalem ; and the pastures of the 
shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall 
wither.'' 

This does not agree well with the claim of the radi- 
cal critics that there was no central sanctuary recognized 
or known before the publishing of Deuteronomy 621 
B. C. 

(8) He was acquainted with the law of incest: 
Amos 2:7: ''And a man and his father will go unto 

the same maid to profane my holy name.'' 

Lev. 20:11: "And the man that lieth with his 
father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness; 
both of them shall surely be put to death." 

(9) He understood the law concerning Xazarites : 
Amos 2: 11, 12: "And I raised up your sons for 

prophets and your young men for Xazarites. . . . 
But ye gave the Xazarites wine to drink." 

X^um. 6:2: "When either man or woman shall make 
a special vow, the vow of a X'^azarite. to separate them- 
self unto the Lord ; he shall separate himself from 
wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar of 
wine, or vinegar of drink; neither shall he drink any 
liquor of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried.'' 

(10) He knew of the law concerning weights and 
measures : 

Amos 8:5: "When will the new moon be gone that 
we may sell corn ? and the sabbath that we may set forth 
wheat? making the ephah small and the shekel great, 
and dealing falsely with balances of deceit.'' 



EVIDENCE OF PROPHETIC BOOKS. 151 

Lev. 19:36: "J^st balances, just weights, a just 
ephah, and a hin, shall ye have; I am the Lord your 
God." 

Deut. 25:13-15: "Thou shalt not have in thy bag 
divers weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not 
have in thine house divers measures, a great and a 
small. A perfect and just weight shalt thou have; a 
perfect and just measure shalt thou have, that thy days 
may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God 
giveth thee." 

After reading these passages can there be any doubt 
that Amos was acquainted with both the history and the 
laws contained in the Pentateuch? 

2. We will summon Hosea to testify as our second 
prophetic witness. 

(1) He evidently was acquainted with the promise 
made to Abraham concerning a fleshly posterity: 

Hos. 1:10: "Yet the number of the children of 
Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which can not be 
measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass that, 
in the place where it was said unto them. Ye are not my 
people, it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the 
living God." 

Gen. 22:17: "In blessing I will bless thee, and in 
multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the 
heaven and as the sand which is upon the seashore." 
Also 2>2\ 12 : "And thou saidst, I will surely do thee 
good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which 
cannot be numbered for multitude." 

(2) He had knowledge of the exodus and the 
wilderness experience : 

Hos. 2:15: "And she shall make answer there, as 
in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she 
came up out of the land of Egypt." 



152 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

Hos. 11: 1: "When Israel was a child, then I loved 
hhn, and called my son out of Egypt." 

Hos. 13:5: ''I did know thee in the wilderness, in 
the land of great drought." 

(3) He makes reference to the idolatry of the people 
in the wilderness : 

Hos. 9:10: "I found Israel like grapes in the 
wilderness ; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig 
tree at her first season ; but they came to Baal-peor, and 
consecrated themselves like that which they loved." 

Num. 25:3: ''And Israel joined himself unto Baal- 
peor; and the anger of the Lord was kindled against 
Israel." 

(4) He refers to the destruction of the cities of the 
plain : 

Hos. 11:8: "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? 
how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee 
as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim?" 

Deut. 29 : 23 : "Like the overthrow of Sodom and 
Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim, which the Lord over- 
threw in his anger, and in his wrath." 

(5) He mentions the peculiar circumstance that 
happened at the birth of Esau and Jacob, and also Jacob's 
power with God : 

Hos. 12:3: "In the womb he took his brother by 
the heel, and in his manhood he had power with God." 

Gen. 25 : 26 : "And after that came forth his brother, 
and his hand had hold on Esau's heel ; and his name was 
called Jacob." 

(6) He refers to Jacob's wrestle with the angel and 
to his serving for a wife : 

Hos. 12 : 4, 12 : "Yea, he had power over the angel, 
and prevailed." "And Jacob fled into the field of Aram, 



EVIDENCE OF PROPHETIC BOOKS. 153 

and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept 
sheep." 

(7) Israel's idolatry is represented under the figure 
of prostitution, just as it is in Exodus and Leviticus : 

Hos. 1:2: "When the Lord spake at the first by 
Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredom and 
children of whoredom; for the land doth commit great 
whoredom, departing from the Lord." 

Ex. 34: 15, 16: "Lest thou make a covenant with the 
inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after 
their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one 
call thee and thou eat of his sacrifice ; and thou take of 
their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go 
a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go 
a whoring after their gods." 

Lev. 20:5: 'Then I will set my face against that 
man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and 
all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom 
with Molech, from among their people." 

(8) He shows himself to have been acquainted with 
the law forbidding sacrifice upon the high places and 
tmder green trees : 

Hos. 4:13: "They sacrifice upon the tops of the 
mountains, and burn incense upon hills and under oaks 
and poplars and terebinths, because the shadow thereof 
is good." 

Deut. 12 : 2 : "Ye shall surely destroy all the places, 
wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their 
gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and 
under green trees." 

How does this fact compare with the claim that prior 
to the promulgation of the Deuteronomic law, 621 B. C, 
no one seemed to know it was wrong to offer sacrifice 
anywhere except at Jerusalem? Hosea seems to have 



154 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

known of the Deuteronomic law forbidding multiplicity 
of sanctuaries 250 years before Hilkiah found the book 
in the temple. 

(9) He had knowledge of a very extensive written 
law which his people had disobeyed : 

Hos. 8:12: ''Though I write for him my law in ten 
thousand precepts, they are counted as a strange thing." 

Also 8:1: ''As an eagle he cometh against the house 
of the Lord ; because they have transgressed my cove- 
nant and trespassed against my law." 

(10) The holy days and feasts prescribed by the 
Mosaic law were known to him : 

Hos. 2:11: "I cause all her mirth to cease; her 
feasts, her new moons and her sabbaths and all her 
solemn assemblies." 

(11) Multiplicity of altars is spoken of as sin: 
Hos. 8: 11: "Ephraim hath multiplied altars to sin: 

altars have been unto him to sin." 

Also 12: 11 : "Is Gilead iniquity? They are altogether 
vanity ; in Gilgal they sacrifice bullocks ; yea, their altars 
are as heaps in the furrows of the field." 

Why was it a sin to multiply altars if there was no 
law requiring a central altar? This language clearly 
indicates a knowledge of Deut. 12 : 5, 8. 

"But unto the place which the Lord your God shall 
choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even 
unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt 
come; and iihither ye shall bring your burnt-offerings 
and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the heave- 
offering of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill- 
offerings of your herd and of your flock." 

(12) He was acquainted with the law concerning the 
removing of landmarks : 



EVIDENCE OF PROPHETIC BOOKS. 155 

Hos. 5:10: 'The princes of Judah are like them that 
remove the landmarks. I will pour out my wrath upon 
them like water." 

Deut. 19: 14: 'Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's 
landmarks, which they of old time have set, in thine 
inheritance, which thou shalt inherit, in the land that the 
Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it." 

Also 27: 17: "Cursed be he that removeth his neigh- 
bor's landmark. And all the people shall say. Amen." 

It surely is unnecessary to press this witness for 
further testimony. Many more passages could be intro- 
duced showing the writer's knowledge of all the minutia 
and details of the Mosaic law. Hosea, like Amos, shows 
himself to have been posted on both the history and laws 
of his people. Every book of the Pentateuch is clearly 
called into view. So far as the testimony of the prophetic 
books bears upon the question under discussion, we might 
well rest the case here. If Amos and Hosea show by 
their writings that they were acquainted with the books 
of the Pentateuch, the date of that document is carried 
far back beyond the time allowed by the analytical 
theory, unless practically the whole body of the prophetic 
writings is made post-exilic, as some of the more radical 
critics are disposed to do. If the prophets just studied 
lived and wrote the books that bear their names, before 
the exile, this fact practically establishes the truth of the 
Mosaic authorship. At least it shows the existence of 
an extensive body of literature to which the Pentateuch 
corresponds, and with which it agrees in its laws and 
historic facts. I will, however, in concluding the argu- 
ment from the testimony of the prophetic books, briefly 
allude to some further evidence furnished by other 
prophets that may serve to strengthen in the minds of 
some the position we have taken. 



156 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

3. Isaiah, who wrote from about 750 to 700 B. C, 
shows the same famiHarity with the history and laws 
of the Pentateuch that Amos and Hosea show. 

(1) He was acquainted with the history of Sodom 
and Gomorrah, the story of which is recorded in 
Genesis. 

Isa. 1 : 9, 10. ''Except the Lord of hosts had left 
unto us a very small remnant, we should have been 
as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah. 
Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom ; give 
ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah." 

(2) He had knowledge of the law forbidding in- 
justice to the fatherless and the widow. 

Isa. 1: 17, 23. ''Learn to do well; seek judgment, 
relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for 
the widow. Thy princes are rebellious, and com- 
panions of thieves ; every one loveth gifts, and 
followeth after rewards; they judge not the fatherless, 
neither doth the cause of the widow come unto 
them." 

Ex. 22 : 22, 23. "Ye shall not afflict any widow, or 
fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and 
they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry. 
and my wrath shall wax hot." 

Deut. 27:19. "Cursed be he that wresteth the 
judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And 
all the people say. Amen." 

(3) He was acquainted w^ith the story of the 
exodus and the passage of the Red Sea. 

Isa. 63: 11, 12. "Then he remembered the days of 
old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that 
brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds 
of his flock? where is he that put his holy Spirit in 
the midst of them? that caused his glorious arm to go 



EVIDENCE OF PROPHETIC BOOKS. 157 

at the right hand of Moses? that divided the water 
before them, to make himself an everlasting name?" 

(4) He v^as evidently acquainted w^ith the song of 
Moses recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Exodus. 

Isa. 12:2. "Behold, God is my salvation; I will 
trust, and will not be afraid ; for the Lord Jehovah 
is my strength and song: and he is become my salva- 
tion." 

Ex. 15:2. 

"The Lord is my strength and song, 

And he has become my salvation ; 

This is my God, and I will praise him ; 

My father's God, and I will exalt him." 

(5) He knew the history of Abraham and Sarah, 
and hence was acquainted with the Book of Genesis. 

Isa. 51:2. "Look unto Abraham your father, 
and unto Sarah that bare you : for when he was but 
one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him 
many." 

(6) He evidently had intimate knowledge of the 
whole law — its sin offerings, oblations, incense, feasts, 
sacred days and seasons, and he also knew that the 
most punctilious observance cf the law divorced 
from right living had no value in the sight of God. 

Isa. 1:11-14. "To what purpose is the multitude 
of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am 
full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed 
beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or 
of lambs, or of he-goats. When ye come to appear 
before me, who hath required this at your hand, to 
trample my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; 
incense is an abomination unto me; new moon and 
sabbath, the calling of assemblies — I cannot away 



158 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

with iniquity and the solemn meeting. Your new 
moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth; 
they are a trouble unto me : I am weary to bear them. 
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide 
mine eyes from you ; yea, when ye make many prayers, 
I will not hear; your hands are full of blood. Wash 
you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings 
from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil ; learn to do 
well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge 
the fatherless, plead for the widow." 

(7) He recognized but one sanctuary — that at 
Jerusalem ; condemned worship and denounced 
human altars. 

Isa. 4:5. ''And the Lord will create over the 
whole habitation of mount Zion, and over her as- 
semblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining 
of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory shall 
be spread a canopy." 

Isa. 8: 18. ''Behold, I and the children whom the 
Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders 
in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth 
in mount Zion." 

Isa. 12:6. "Cry aloud and shout, thou inhabitant 
of Zion ; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the 
midst of thee." 

Isa. 57 : 5-7. "Ye that inflame yourselves among 
the oaks, under every green tree ; that slay the chil- 
dren of the valleys under the clefts of the rocks? 
Among the smooth stones of the valley is thy por- 
tion ; they, they are thy lot ; even to them hast thou 
poured a drink offering, thou hast offered an oblation. 
Shall I be appeased for these things? L^pon a high 
and lofty mountain hast thou set thy bed ; thither 
also wentest thou up to offer sacrifice." 



EVIDENCE OF PFOPHETIC BOOKS. 159 

Isa. 65 : 3, 4. "A people that provoketh me to 
my face continually, sacrificing in gardens, and burn- 
ing incense upon bricks, Avhich sit among the graves, 
and lodge in the secret places, which eat swine's 
flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their 
vessels." 

Isa. 17:7^ 8. "In that day shall a man look unto 
his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the 
Holy One in Israel. And he shall not look to the 
altars, the work of his hands, neither shall he have 
respect to that which his fingers have made, either 
the Asherim, or the sun-images." 

It is certainly clear that he magnified the temple 
and altar at Jerusalem and never mentioned worship 
at other places except to disapprove. 

References to the law are by no means scarce. 
Others might be cited were it at all necessary to the 
strength of the argument. It is evident that Isaiah, 
like Amos and Hosea, was familiar with the history, 
laws and institutions of the Pentateuch. 

4. Joel was contemporary with the prophets we 
have just been studying. It is unnecessary to intro- 
duce specific passages to show he had knowledge of 
the Pentateuch. He makes mention of the drink 
offerings, meal offerings, feasts, solemn assemblies, 
and, like Isaiah, he recognizes but one sanctuary. 

He speaks of Zion the holy mountain, of calling a 
solemn assembly in Zion, of God dwelling in Z!on 
his holy mountain, of Jerusalem being holy, of God 
roaring from Zion and uttering his voice from Jeru- 
salem, but not one word anywhere that justifies the 
existence of any other sanctuary. 

How anybody can read these prophets and then 
declare that prior to the appearance of Deuteronomy, 



160 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

621 B. C, a multiplicity of altars was generally recog- 
nized with approval, and that we have no intimation 
anywhere that there was but one divinely ordained 
sanctuary, passes comprehension. 

5. Micah, also a prophet of the eighth century' 
B. C, shows that he was acquainted with the Penta- 
teuch in all of its parts. Every one of its books is 
brought into view by unmistakable references. He 
mentions Nimrod, Moses, Aaron, Miriam, the won- 
ders wrought by Moses in Egypt, and the Exodus. 
He, like Isaiah, deprecates excess of sacrifice, unac- 
companied by morality and godliness. 

6. I must not omit to call attention to Jeremiah, 
who wrote in the early part of the sixth century, both 
before and after the captivity. Those who hold that 
Deuteronomy was written by some unknown author, 
a short time before it was discovered in the temple 
by Hilkiah, and that it was the first book of the 
Pentateuch, cite the fact that the Book of Jeremiah 
is full of Deuteronomic matter in proof of their posi- 
tion. They tell us that Deuteronomy was an epoch- 
making book and exercised a wonderful influence on 
the life of the nation, which is undoubtedly true. 
After the book was discovered it greatly influenced 
the king and nation. The question, however, is this : 
Had the book been recently written, or was it ^Mosaic, 
having for a time dropped out of sight owing to the 
great apostasy into which the nation had fallen? 

A\^e are told that there are eighty-six Deuteronomic 
passages in Jeremiah, ten times as many as are found 
in any prophet before his time. ^^ hy, it is said, 
should this be so if Deuteronomy had been in exist- 
ence since the days of Moses? To this we may 
reply: First, if there are Deuteronomic passages in 



EVIDENCE OF PROPHETIC BOOKS, 161 

the earlier prophets at all, that book must have been 
in existence in their day. It is not a question as to 
whether they have less of such matter than Jeremiah, 
but, is there any of it in their writings? That there 
is can not be successfully denied. Second, there are 
good reasons why Jeremiah should be full of Deuter- 
onomy. His people were about to sufter the awful 
doom of disobedience to their divinely given laws. 
The time of punishment was at hand. AVell might 
he cite their disobedience as a reason for the awful 
retribution about t li fall, and in doing so would 
naturally refer to Deuteronomy. It is not denied 
that Deuteronomy, and all of the Mosaic law as well, 
had probably dropped out of sight owing to the ter- 
rible apostasy that prevailed during the reign of 
Manasseh and Amon and for the first eighteen years 
of Josiah. The repromulgation of the law would 
therefore have a most startling efifect, and Jeremiah 
could do no greater service than to magnify the 
long-neglected code. 

But the question is suggested: If there is un- 
questionable Deuteronomic matter in the early 
prophets, how is this fact accounted for by the 
advocates of the divisive theory? So far as I have 
been able to discover, the following explanations are 
offered : First, some suggest that either the 
Deuteronomic matter may have been later insertions — 
that is, passages slipped into the writings of the early 
prophets after Deuteronomy appeared — or the writer 
of Deuteronomy may have copied from the prophets. 
Any one who will carefully read the early prophets 
will see how utterly absurd these suggestions are. 
Can any one believe that all the Deuteronomic refer- 
ences found in the earlier prophets could have been 



162 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

inserted without destroying the unity of the -produc- 
tion? Or if the Deuteronomist copied from the 
prophets, then where did the prophets get the laws 
referred to? Does not this imply a body of laws to 
which the Pentateuch corresponds? Others, doubt- 
less recognizing the improbability of these sugges- 
tions, prefer to carry forward nearly the whole body 
of the prophetic writing into the post-exilic period, 
but in so doing they leave the nation almost entirely 
without a literature for a period of eight hundred 
years after the exodus. 

But those who argue that the large amount oi 
Deuteronomic material in Jeremiah sustains the 
critical theory as to its origin, overlook the fact 
that Jeremiah contains many references to other books 
of the Pentateuch. If Deuteronomy were the only 
book referred to by Jeremiah, there might seem to be 
some force in the argument put forth by the divisive 
critics, but, unfortunately for their contention, such 
is not the case. Jeremiah evidently had the whole 
Pentateuch in his field of vision. 

The facts that go to substantiate this statement 
are : First, the close kinship in thought that certain 
passages in Jeremiah show two passages in the first 
four books of the Pentateuch ; second, the use of 
forms of expression almost identical with forms found 
in those books ; third, clear references to the history 
and laws recorded in those books. 

Attention is called to the following comparisons : 

(1) Jer. 2:3: 'Tsrael was holiness unto the Lord, 
the first-fruits of his increase; all that devour him 
shall be held guilty; evil shall come upon him, 
saith the Lord." This suggests Lev. 22:10, 15, 16: 
''There shall no stranger eat of the holy thing. A 



EVIDENCE OF PROPHETIC BOOKS. 163 

sojourner of the priest's, or an hired servant, shall 
not eat of the holy thing. . . . And they shall not 
profane the holy things of the children of Israel, which 
they offer unto the Lord ; and so cause them to bear 
the iniquity that bringeth guilt, when they eat their 
holy things, for I am the Lord which sanctify them." 

(2) Jer. 2:20: "For of old time I have broken 
thy yoke and burst thy bands." This doubtless refers 
to the deliverance from bondage and suggests Lev. 
26 : 13 : "I am the Lord your God, which brought you 
forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be 
their bondmen ; and I have broken the bars of your 
yoke, and made you go upright." 

(3) Jer. 4:27: "For thus saith the Lord, the 
whole land shall be a desolation." This points to 
Lev. 26 : 33 : "And you will I scatter among the 
nations, and I will draw out the sword after you ; and 
your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall 
be a waste." 

(4) Jer. 5:2: "And though they say as the Lord 
liveth ; surely they swear falsely." This suggests Lev. 
19: 12: "And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, 
so then thou profane the name of thy God." 

(5) Jer. 6:28: "They are all grievous revolters, 
going about with slanders ; they are brass and iron, 
they all of them deal corruptly." 9:4: "Take ye 
heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in 
any brother, for every brother will utterly supplant, 
and every neighbour will go about with slanders." 
This points to the law against slander. Lev. 19: 16: 
"Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among 
thy people, neither shalt thou stand against the blood 
of thy neighbour." 

(6) Jer. 7:26: "Yet they hearkened not unto me. 



164 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff; they 
did worse than their fathers." This suggests a knowl- 
edge of Ex. 32 : 9 : ''And the Lord said unto Moses, I 
have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked 
people." Also 33:5: "And the Lord said unto 
Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiff- 
necked people ; if I go up into the midst of thee for 
one moment, I shall consume thee." 

(7) Jer. 9:25, 26: "Behold the days come, saith 
the Lord, that I will punish all them which are cir- 
cumcised in their uncircumcision ; Egypt, and Judah, 
and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, 
and all that have the corners of their hair polled, that 
dwell in the wilderness : for all the nations are un- 
circumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircum- 
cised in heart." This points to the Levitical law 
concerning the trimming of hair and beard. Lev. 
19:27: "Ye shall not round the corners of your 
heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy 
beard." 21:5: "They shall not make baldness upon 
their head, neither shall they shave the corners of 
their beard." 

(8) Jer. 9:26: "For all the nations are uncircum- 
cised. and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised 
in heart." This is suggestive of Lev. 26:41: "If 
then their uncircumcised heart be humbled, and they 
then accept the punishment of their iniquity ; then 
will I remember my covenant with Jacob." 

(9) He makes a very clear reference to the cove- 
nant made with Israel immediately after the exodus. 

Jer. 11 : 2-5 : "Hear ye the words of this covenant, 
and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhab- 
itants of Jerusalem ; and say thou unto them, Thus 
saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Cursed be the man 



EVIDENCE OF PROPHETIC BOOKS. 165 

that heareth not the words of this covenant, which 
I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought 
them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron 
furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, accord- 
ing to all which I command you; so shall ye be my 
people, and I will be your God : that I may establish 
the oath which I sware unto your fathers, to give 
them a land flowing with milk and honey." Ex. 
19 : 5 : "Now therefore if ye will obey my voice in- 
deed and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a 
peculiar treasure unto me from among all peoples." 
This refers to the covenant fully set forth in' chapters 
20-23. 

(10) Jer. 11:5: "That I may establish the oath 
that I swore unto your fathers to give them a land 
flowing with milk, and honey." 

This language shows that Jeremiah Avas acquainted 
with the promise of an earthly inheritance and knew 
of the oath by which Jehovah had bound himself. 
Gen. 22: 16, 17: "By myself have I sworn, saith 
the Lord, . . . That in blessing I w^ill bless thee, 
and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the 
stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon 
the seashore." Gen. 12:7: "And the Lord appeared 
tmto Abram and said, Unto thy seed will I give this 
land." Ex. 3:8: "For I know their sorrows; and 
I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of 
the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land 
into a good land and a large, unto a land flowing 
with milk and honey ; unto the place of the Canaanite, 
and the Hittite, and the Amorite." Num. 14:23: 
"Hearken to my voice ; surely they shall not see the 
land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall 
any of them that despise me see it." 



166 TEE WORD OF TRUTH, 

(11) He evidently was acquainted with the 
prophecy concerning the captivity and the deliver- 
ance. 

Jer. 31:16, 17: "Thus saith the Lord, Refrain 
thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; 
for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and 
they shall come again from the land of the enemy. 
And there is hope for thy latter end, saith the Lord; 
and thy children shall come again to their own 
border." 

Jer. 15 : 19-21 : ''Therefore thus saith the Lord, 
If thou return, then will I bring thee again, that 
thou mayest stand before me ; and if thou take forth 
the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my 
mouth; they shall return unto thee, but thou shalt 
not return unto them. And I will make thee unto 
this people a fenced brazen wall ; and they shall fight 
against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee ; 
for I am with thee to save thee, and deliver thee, 
saith the Lord. And I will deliver thee out of the 
hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of 
the land of the terrible." 

This also points to a knowledge of the promise 
of deliverance. Both passages bring to view : 

Lev. 26:41, 42, 45: 'Tf then their uncircumcised 
heart be humbled, and they then accept the punish- 
ment of their iniquity; then will I remember my 
covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with 
Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham, will I 
remember; and I will remember the land; ... I 
will for their sakes remember the covenant of their 
ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of 
Egypt." 



EVIDENCE OF PROPHETIC BOOKS. 167 

Lev. 26:44: "And yet for all that, when they be 
in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them; 
neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and 
to break my covenant with them ; foi I am the Lord 
their God." 

The purpose of these Scripture? was to inspire 
hope in the captive. 

(12) He makes reference to the horns of altars, 
showing he had knowledge of the way God's altar 
was constructed. 

Jer. 17:1: "The sin of Judah is written with a 
pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond : it is 
graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the 
horns of your altars." Ex. 27: 1, 2: "And thou shalt 
make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long, and 
five cubits broad : the altar shall be four-square : and 
the height thereof shall be three cubits. And thou 
shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners 
thereof; the horns thereof shall be of one piece with 
it: and thou shalt overlay it with brass." 

(13) He evidently was acquainted with the com- 
mands of the Decalogue. 

Jer. 17: 21, 22: "Thus saith the Lord, Take heed 
to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath 
day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem ; 
neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on 
the sabbath day, neither do ye any work : but hallow 
ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers." 
Ex. 20:8-10: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it 
holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work ; 
but the seventh day is a sabbath unto the Lord thy 
God ; in it thou shalt not do any work." 

(14) He refers to the story of Rachel which is 
recorded in Genesis. 



168 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

Jer. 31:15: "Thus saith the Lord: A voice is 
heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, 
Rachel weeping for her children and refuseth to be 
comforted for her children, because they are not." 

(15) He refers to the law of redemption. 

Jer. 32:7, 8: ''Behold, Hanamel the son of 
Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, 
Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth : for the right 
of redemption is thine to buy it. So Hanamel mine 
uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard 
according to the word of the Lord, and said unto me, 
Buy my field, I pray thee, thai is in Anathoth, which 
is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inherit- 
ance is thine, and the redemption is thine ; buy it for 
thyself." 

Lev. 25:25, 48, 49: 'Tf thy brother be waxen 
poor, and sell some of his possession, then shall his 
kinsman that is next to him come, and shalt redeem 
that which his brother hath sold. . . . After that 
he is sold he may be redeemed : one of his brethren 
may redeem him ; or his uncle, or his uncle's son, 
may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him 
of his family may redeem him ; or if he be waxen 
rich, he may redeem himself." 

(16) He refers to the threat of God to visit the 
iniquity of the fathers upon the children. 

Jer. 32: 18: ''Which showed mercy unto thou- 
sands, and recompenses the iniquity of the fathers 
into the bosom of their children after them." 

Ex. 20:5, 6: "For I the Lord thy God am a 
jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon 
the children, upon the third and upon the fourth 
generation of them that hate me ; and showing mercy 



EVIDENCE OF PROPHETIC BOOKS. 169 

unto thousands of them that love me and keep my 
commandments." 

(17) He was acquainted with the promise con- 
cerning an earthly posterity. 

Jer. 33:22: "As the host of heaven cannot be 
numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured; so 
will I multiply the seed of David my servant." 

Gen. 15:5: "And he brought him forth abroad, 
and said, Look now toward heaven, and all the stars, 
if thou be able to number them : and he said unto him, 
So shall thy seed be." 

(18) He refers to God's manner of making a cove- 
nant. 

Jer. 34: 18: "And I will give the men that have 
transgressed my covenant, which have not performed 
the words of the covenant which they made before 
me, when they cut the calf in twain and passed 
between the parts thereof." Gen. 15:9, 10, 17: 
"And he said unto him. Take me an heifer of three 
years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a 
ram of three years old, and a turtle dove, and a young 
pigeon. And he took him all these, and divided them 
in the midst, and laid each half over against the 
other: but the birds divided he not. . . . And 
it came to pass, -that when the sun went down, and 
it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming 
torch that passed between the pieces. In that day 
the Lord made a covenant with Abram," etc. 

There can be no reasonable doubt- that Jeremiah 
shows an acquaintance with the whole Pentateuch, 
and therefore his use of Deuteronomic matter offers 
no proof of the late origin claimed for that book; but 
the reference he makes to the other books argues 



170 THE WORD OF TBUTE. 

conclusively against the post-exilic origin of those 
books. 

Notice what a striking situation is presented, ac- 
cording to the most radical school of criticism, in 
the history and literature of Israel. The great bulk 
of the historical, prophetical, didactic and devotional 
literature is given a post-exilic date. This means 
that the history of Israel for seven hundred years 
after the exodus is largely a blank. Nay, it means 
that the whole history of the nation, from its earliest 
beginnings down to the exile, is a fable ; that the 
great characters so strikingly delineated are for the 
most part creations of art, inventions of a lively 
imagination ; that the splendid body of literature with 
which we are familiar suddenly burst forth in all its 
glory, without roots or beginnings. There is no 
development shown except in a literature purely 
hypothetical, no traces of which have ever been 
found. IMoreover, according to the theory, this 
literature appeared at a time of great national 
humiliation and decay, long after the golden age 
politically was past, a period utterly unsuited to 
the production of a classic literature, thus present- 
ing a phenomenon witnessed in the history of no other 
nation. On the other hand, the so-called traditional 
theory makes the golden age of Hebrew literature, 
very naturally, coincide with the golden age of the 
nation politically. 

I can see how unbelievers, blinded by prejudice 
and exceedingly mad against the doctrine of the 
miraculous, can accept such a theory, but, I repeat 
again, I do not see how professed believers can do so. 

In concluding the Biblical argument, I invite at- 
tention to: 



NEW TESTAMENT EVIDENCE. 171 

II. The evidence furnished in the New Testa- 
ment for the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. 

1. Our Lord bears testimony on this question of 
the most positive and unequivocal character. In Mark 
12 : 26 he calls the Pentateuch "the book of Moses." 
In the parable of Dives and Lazarus, recorded in Luke 
16, he calls the Pentateuch and the other Scriptures 
''Moses and the prophets." In Luke 24:44 he refers 
to the prophecies concerning himself as "written in the 
law of Closes, and the prophets and the psalms." He 
said to the leper that he had healed (Matt. 8:4), "Go 
thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift 
that Moses commanded." Mark repeats the same 
language, chapter 1 : 44, and so does Luke, chapter 
5:14. He said to the Jews (Matt. 19:8), "Moses 
for your hardness of heart suffered you to put away 
your wives." Mark makes the same statement in 
chapter 10: 5. In John 7: 19, we read, "Did not Moses 
give yoii the law?" One might almost be led to con- 
clude that he anticipated the teaching of the divisive 
critics and condemned it in advance. Language could 
not be more pointed and direct. If he had had the 
modern analytical hypothesis before him he could not 
have contradicted it in plainer terms. 

But Jesus spake of Moses not only as the giver of 
the law, but as having written it. In Mark 10: 5, we 
read, "He [Moses] wrote you this commandment." 
He also declared that Moses prophesied concerning 
him (John 5:46, 47), "For if ye believe Moses ye 
would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if ye be- 
lieve not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" 

It was evidently the current belief in the time of 
Christ that Moses was the author of the books 



172 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

ascribed to him. Jesus gave his support to that 
belief in as plain and emphatic a way as language 
could do it. If the Mosaic authorship of the Penta- 
teuch is a fact and Jesus had wished to confirm that 
truth, can any one imagine a clearer endorsement than 
we have in the passages above cited? There are 
three possible suppositions as respects this question 
and Christ's attitude to it: 

(1) It may be held that Moses did not write the 
Pentateuch and that Jesus knew it, but accommodated 
himself to the prevailing view, not wishing to raise 
an unprofitable critical question. If this were true, 
was it necessary for him to speak of Closes as 
the author? Could he not have referred to the law 
without mentioning authorship at all? Evidently he 
could have done so. He could have resorted to a 
circumlocution that would have avoided the question 
altogether. Would not even an honest man have 
done this if he had wished to refer to the Jewish law 
without raising the question of authorship? Does not 
the fact that Jesus did not do so show that he was not 
aiming to avoid the question of authorship? In other 
words, he endorsed the current belief when he could 
easily have avoided doing so if that belief were er- 
roneous. 

(2) The position may be taken that Moses did not 
write the Pentateuch, but Jesus supposed he did, 
having ignorantly adopted the commonly accepted 
error. I for one am unwilling to entertain any such 
dishonoring view of Him whose divinity I have openly 
confessed. I fail to understand how such a view can 
be made to harmonize with the doctrine of Christ's 
divinity. If he was *'God manifest in the flesh," if 
''in him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," 



NEW TESTAMENT EVIDENCE. 173 

if "he thought it not a prize to be equal with God," 
if "the Holy Spirit was given to him without meas- 
ure," if he was one with the Father and dwelt with 
him before the world was, if "he knew what was in 
man," if the future was as plain to him as the present, 
as is shown by his predictions concerning his death, 
betrayal, resurrection, the destruction of Jerusalem 
and many other events ; then, if Moses did not write 
the Pentateuch, Jesus knew it, and his endorsement 
of the error when he could have easily avoided it is 
an impeachment of his honesty and truthfulness. 

Here again I can see how unbelievers can take 
such a belittling view of our Saviour, but how devout 
Christian men can do so I can not understand. To 
say that Jesus was ignorant on this question makes 
him inferior in knowledge to our modern critics. 
They know that Moses was not the author of the 
Pentateuch, but they are not too immodest to say 
that Jesus was not so well informed as themselves, 
but ignorantly accepted the Mosaic authorship. Is 
it not time for Christian men to pause and consider 
whither they are tending before adopting a theory 
that robs our King of his crown? 

(3) Finally, it is possible to hold that Moses 
wrote the Pentateuch, that Jesus knew it and made 
his statements with that fact fully in mind. This 
is the only view that harmonizes naturally with 
his language, and this to me seems the only view 
consistent with a belief in the divinity of our Lord 
and Master, and if this doctrine be surrendered it 
matters not who wrote the Pentateuch. Time spent 
in the investigation is worse than wasted. If this 
doctrine is accepted, it carries with it, as I verilj? 
believe, the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, 



174 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

2. It seems to me wholly unnecessary to pursue 
the New Testament argument further. The testi- 
mony of Christ's apostles and other New Testament 
writers virtually reiterates the statements of the 
Master on this point. When the law is read they 
say: *'Moses is read." They speak of Moses and 
the prophets when speaking of the Pentateuch, and 
the other Scriptures. They say "Closes com- 
manded," "Moses wrote." In short, they give fre- 
quent expression to the current belief concerning 
the authorship of the Pentateuch and there is not 
the slightest hint in the New Testament, or the Old, 
for that matter, that any one entertained any doubt 
on that question. The last Old Testament prophet, 
Malachi, said, chapter 4 : 4, "Remember ye the law 
of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him 
in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judg- 
ments." This is a faithful echo of the same voice 
that comes ringing down through the centuries from 
Moses' time to Malachi's day. It is caught up by 
the Master and reiterated again and again by his 
apostles, and no one dared to raise a conflicting 
voice, or, so far as we can see, even thought of such 
a thing. 

I believe as firmly as I believe in the divinity of 
my Lord that the modern divisive hypothesis of 
the origin of the Pentateuch, in all its forms, is 
destined to complete and final overthrow at no dis- 
tant day. It may be the fashion just now, in certain 
quarters, to discredit the Alosaic authorship, but 
indications are not wanting that like many another 
fashion it will soon be a thing of the past, at least to 
all who believe in Christ or have any reverence for 
the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. 



CHAPTER X. 

The Authorship of the Pentateuch — Other 
Arguments for the Mosaic Authorship. 

In concluding this discussion I desire to submit a 
few additional arguments in favor of the Mosaic 
authorship. 

1. A strong argument for the Mosaic authorship 
of the Pentateuch is found in the peculiar and unique 
character of the Israelitish nation. Every effect 
must have its cause. National character and pecu- 
liarities are the results of the laws and institutions 
tmder which the nation has been developed. Roman 
character is the result of Roman laws and institu- 
tions ; the one answers to the other. Law is a great 
educator. He who shapes the laws of a people 
shapes the national character and life. Spartan 
character is the result of the laws of Lycurgus."^ 
The laws are an adequate explanation of the pecu- 
liar characteristics of the people. No nation ex- 
hibits such singular and peculiar characteristics as 
the Hebrew people. They are unlike any other 
people. Their great dominant thought, ''One true and 
living God," is unique. Where is the explanation 
for this marvelously eccentric people? It is found 
in the laws and institutions of the Pentateuch. Give 
to Moses the authorship of the Pentateuch and we 
have an adequate and satisfactory explanation of 



* Principles of Biblical Criticism (Lias), pp. 105-106. 

175 



176 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

every step in the national development, and of every 
phase of the national life. Bring the Pentateuch 
forward a thousand years and we have no satisfac- 
tory explanation of the peculiar civil and religious 
polity of that wonderful people whose history is 
the key that unlocks the world's history; yea, that 
shows all the great historic events to be but the 
footsteps of God in his majestic progress toward the 
accomplishment of his stupendous benevolent design. 
Adopt the divisive hypothesis of the origin of the 
Pentateuch, and the Jewish nation is the riddle of 
all the ages. The more reasonable of the divisive 
critics say that Closes must be regarded as the 
founder of Israel's polity, yet their theory makes 
even his existence problematical and his laws and 
institutions more unsubstantial than the vagaries of 
a sick man's dreams. 

2. In the next place, the peculiar formation of 
the Pentateuch furnishes an argument in favor of 
the Mosaic authorship. The legislation consists of 
several distinct bodies of laws of such a character 
as to exactly fit the occasions and circumstances 
when they were delivered. A\^herein these several 
codes differ, as they sometimes do when bearing on 
the same matter, the variations are accounted for 
by the changed circumstances. The historic portions 
interspersed with the legal parts fully explain the 
latter and the whole account constitutes a consistent 
narrative from first to last. Xow, I am aware that 
the peculiar structure of the Pentateuch is used as 
an argument against the Mosaic authorship. It is 
held that if the whole body of laws belonged to one 
period, there would have been an effort at orderly 
codification, avoidance of divergent laws pertaining 



MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP. 177 

to the same matter, and the ehmination of all repe- 
tition ; but, as just remarked, the various occasions 
calling forth the legislation spreading through a 
period of forty years, explain all this. But, on the 
other hand, the divisive critics, according to their 
own theory, have the same problem to meet without 
being able, so far as yet appears, to offer any ex- 
planation. If the Pentateuch was produced by sev- 
eral different writers in the manner set forth by 
them, why did not the last redactor codify the 
various bodies of laws, eliminate superfluous laws 
and remove all apparent contradictions or conflicting 
variations? If the Pentateuchal legislation was en- 
acted, as the history sets forth, we can see just 
why the form is as it is ; but if the analytical theory 
is true, the lack of orderly arrangement is inexpli- 
cable. 

But we are told that some of the legislation could 
not have been enacted in Moses' time, since it clearly 
was intended to fit conditions that did not then exist 
and did not come to pass until a much later period, 
and that consequently those laws could not have 
been understood in Moses' day. In reply, I cite 
the fact which is not denied, that some of the laws 
of Deuteronomy fit conditions in Moses' day, but 
were entirely out of date in the year 621 B. C, 
when the critics tell us they were first promulgated. 
To my mind it is far more reasonable to suppose 
that Moses, the great leader and lawgiver of his 
nation, inspired by God for his task, would anticipate 
the conditions that would obtain when his people 
would come into their promised inheritance, and 
provide for these needs in his legislation, than to 
suppose a lawmaker, writing seven hundred years 



178 THE WOED OF TRUTH. 

after Moses' time, would formulate laws that 'applied 
to conditions that had not existed for hundreds of 
years. It can readily be supposed that a man, 
writing by inspiration, may anticipate the needs of 
his people, but why should a man write laws that 
were out of date by centuries? In answer to this, 
the critics say that probably the antiquated laws of 
Deuteronomy had been enacted by some one at an 
early day, that they had in their time been observed 
with more or less fidelity, and that the writer of 
Deuteronomy merely wished to make his code com- 
plete by carrying forward the old laws. Surely this 
was a strange procedure. We are asked to believe 
that the writer of Deuteronomy burdened his code 
with antiquated relics which could serve no purpose 
other than as mere keepsakes, so to speak. For laws 
and instructions found in Deuteronomy which would 
be of service only in the early history of Israel, see 
chapters 4: 3, 4; 7: 1-6; 8: 1 ; 9: 1-3 ; 17:14-17; 19:1-3; 
25:17-19; 27:11-26. 

3. The Mosaic authorship is sustained by the 
writer's point of view. His position is in the wilder- 
ness beyond Jordan. He has not yet entered the 
promised land. He speaks of what will come to 
pass when the people enter upon their promised 
inheritance. Jerusalem is never mentioned. The 
great temple is not alluded to. The enemies to be 
encountered are not the enemies just preceding the 
captivity effected by the Assyrians and Babylonians, 
but the early nations of Canaan. 

The laws enacted fit the conditions of the wilder- 
ness march. "^ The people are forbidden to do as the 

*See "Higher Criticism of the Pentateuch," by \V. H. 
Green, pp. 39, 40. 



MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP. 179 

Egyptians with whom they had recently dwelt, or as 
the Canaanites with whom they would soon be 
brought in contact. They are reminded that their 
rest is future, and many of their laws are framed 
with reference to their future abode after Jehovah 
shall have cut off or driven out the inhabitants of 
Canaan. Even the central sanctuary is to be located 
where the Lord will choose to place his name. All 
references to the life of the people indicate tent 
life or camp life. Even the wood out of which the 
tabernacle, ark and sacred vessels were made is pe- 
culiar, we are told, to the desert. It is called shittim 
wood. The structure of the tabernacle shows it was 
intended for a wandering people, and full instruc- 
tions about how to move it from place to place are 
given. Many other instructions are given that fit 
only a migratory people, while there are other enact- 
ments that looked forward to the time when their 
wanderings would cease, all of which accords per- 
fectly with the conditions and expectations of the 
Israelites in Moses' time. In short, the viewpoint 
and coloring are pre-eminently Mosaic, but utterly 
out of keeping with the late period assigned by the 
divisive critics. 

The demand here made by the analytical hypoth- 
esis ought to be entirely too great for the credulity 
of the average man. We are asked to believe that 
a set of writers carried themselves backward through 
periods ranging from seven hundred to a thousand 
years, and so completely, in their imagination, ad- 
justed themselves to the distant age and environment 
that they wrote extensive productions dealing with 
peoples, places and conditions in general without 
making mistakes in geography, topography, ethnology 



180 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

or in customs, social or religious. If there is such a 
thing as an intelle.ctual miracle, this is certainly one. 

4. Egyptian material is by no means scarce in the 
Pentateuch. Egyptian words, customs, objects, arts, 
intrude themselves continually upon the attention of 
the reader. The life of Joseph, and the history of the 
residence of Jacob and his descendants in Egypt, are 
too realistic and artless to have been an invention of 
late writers. The allusions to Egyptian experiences 
and customs have all the marks of true reminiscences, 
and are not simply references to matters that might 
have been learned from report, or from the intercourse 
that Israel may have had with Egypt in later ages, as 
one of the advocates of the analytical theory remarks. 
The allusions indicate close intimacy and recent ac- 
quaintance. The author writes as an eye-witness, and 
not as one who got his information at second hand. 

5. The worship set up by Jeroboam in the northern 
kingdom, upon the revolt of the ten tribes, has an im- 
portant bearing on this question. The narrative in 1 
Kings 12 represents Jeroboam as saying to the people, 
"It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem." He 
thereupon established idol-worship in Bethel and Dan, 
the two extremities of his kingdom. Is it not plain 
to be seen that Jeroboam saw that the only way to 
keep the people from returning to their allegiance to 
the house of David was to furnish them, not one sanc- 
tuary, but two, thus making it convenient for the peo- 
ple? His worship was grossly corrupt, but yet he 
seems to have shaped it more or less according to 
Pentateuchal law. Evidently he saw the central sanc- 
tuary at Jerusalem would have a great attraction, 
which must needs be counteracted in some way. This 



MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP, 181 

history strongly suggests the existence of the Penta- 
teuch in Jeroboam's day. 

The influence of the Pentateuch in the northern 
kingdom is also shown by the fact that Hosea and 
Amos, both prophets of the ten tribes, make appeals 
to a law and a covenant formed with Israel when 
the nation came out of Egypt, which can scarcely 
mean less than the Pentateuchal legislation. Hosea 
speaks of the law as being written "in ten thousand 
precepts," which clearly points to the elaborate legis- 
lation of the Pentateuch. If this point be well taken, 
and I fail to see how it can be reasonably called 
in question, it carries the date of the Pentateuch 
beyond the date of the revolt, to the time of Solo- 
mon at least, and if this point is established, no one 
would seriously dispute the Mosaic authorship. 

6. The efforts to show that the language of the 
Pentateuch does not harmonize with the early date 
assigned, have not been successful. President W. H. 
Harper says : "The argument from the language 
of the Pentateuch will not settle the case on either 
side." This is a surrender of the linguistic argument 
from the side of the analytical theory, but I am not 
so sure that he is warranted in declaring it has 
no weight on the other side. Professor Schafif says: 
''The language of the Pentateuch is, throughout, the 
Hebrew of the purest period, with no trace of later 
words, or forms, or constructions, or of the Chalda- 
isms of the exile." He further says it has certain 
archaic forms not found in the later writings. Kitto 
says: "The Pentateuch contains a number of char- 
acteristic grammatical formations. . . . The Penta- 
teuch contains also words that do not occur in other 
parts of the Old Testament. . . . There occur also 



182 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

characteristic phrases." He cites a number of in- 
stances in each case. He finally concludes : "Others 
have vainly endeavored to find in the Pentateuch, and 
especially in Deuteronomy, vestiges of a later style. 
The instances produced by the opponents of the 
Mosaical origin of the Pentateuch do not stand ex- 
amination, and are, therefore, unable to counter- 
balance the weight of argument deducible from the 
antique expressions of the Mosaical writings." 

It would seem, therefore, that the argument based 
on the language of the Pentateuch stands decidedly 
in favor of the Mosaic authorship. 

7. The character of the teachings of the Penta- 
teuch also support the Mosaic authorship. There is 
a decided advance in doctrine from the Pentateuch 
to the prophets. The doctrines concerning the future 
state, the character of true worship, the Messiah 
and God's providence, are much more fully expanded 
in the later Scriptures than in the Pentateuch. This 
is just as it should be. God adapts his revelations 
to the advancement of his people. There is a grad- 
ual unfolding of truth, a mounting upward to higher 
and higher levels, as time advances, until the great 
climax is reached in the revelation of Christ and the 
teachings of his apostles. I am aware that some of 
the advocates of the divisive hypothesis deny the 
existence of such a development. They claim that 
the religious ideas of the Pentateuch are far too 
much advanced for the Mosaic age, and assert that 
they are measurably on a level with the ideas 
of the prophets, but the case seems too plain for dis- 
pute. Bible students have ever recognized the ele- 
mentary character of the doctrines set forth in the 
Pentateuch as compared with the deep spiritual con- 



MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP. 183 

captions as set forth in Job, Psalms and the prophets. 
The contention of the divisive critics on this point 
grows out of the doctrine of evolution, which under- 
lies their whole theory. Those who believe in 
revealed religion, as opposed to evolved religion, 
have no trouble in seeing just such an advance in 
religious ideas as might be expected. It is true the 
religious conceptions of the Pentateuch are too much 
advanced to comport well with the idea that religion is 
an evolution beginning with fetichism and advancing 
through polytheism and henotheism to monotheism. 
But those who believe in revelation are prepared 
to begin with monotheism and then advance to 
ever-enlarging' and more spiritual conceptions of the 
one true and living God, and to more adequate 
notions of his providence and character. In short, 
they are prepared to accept just that sort of develop- 
ment they find beginning with the Pentateuch and 
proceeding through with the prophets, and ending 
with Christ and his apostles. This is a development 
as reasonable as it is beautiful, while the other is 
grotesque, fanciful, and unsupported by the facts of 
Bible history, and would require us to deny to the 
Pentateuch any real historic value. 

8. If the divisive theory of the Pentateuch is 
true, it stands as one of the most remarkable facts 
in all history that it was not discovered until recently, 
and that, too, by the enemies of the Bible. All the 
great theologians and scholars of the early Chris- 
tian centuries, devout and reverent though they were, 
failed to discover it. All the students of the law 
prior to the time of Christ overlooked a most wonder- 
ful fact as to the nature of that law, revolutionary in 
its character. All the scholarship of the world, even 



184 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

down to a comparatively recent date, acute, pains- 
taking, honest and fearless though they were, were 
unable to find out how the books of the Pentateuch 
were really produced. It remained for an infidel 
Frenchman to bring to light the truth concerning 
the nature of the books that are the basis of all 
subsequent Old Testament writings and even of 
the New Testament Scriptures. Who can believe 
it? Alas! strange to tell, some who claim to rever- 
ence the Scriptures, and even to regard them as 
inspired, accept the theory wrought out by the oppo- 
nents of the Bible and promulgated in the interest 
of unbelief. When I hear of apparently reverent 
Christian scholars accepting and defending these 
grotesque theories of the enemy, and then claiming 
that their reverence for the book is thereby increased, 
I stand amazed and perplexed beyond measure. I 
feel that I face a difficulty hard to explain, and I 
would experience a great anxiety over the situation 
did I not find myself in the company of many de- 
vout, serious, capable Christion men and scholars 
of repute. 

9. All late research tends to strengthen the old 
and commonly accepted theory. I here introduce 
a quotation from the "Cyclopaedia of Religious 
Knowledge/'" edited by Sanford (article, ''Penta- 
teuch") : 

''Archaeology supports the historical genuineness 
of the Pentateuch. The late discoveries of the Egyp- 
tian Exploration Society, and all that has been 
deciphered from monuments throwing any light on 
the subject, tend to establish the authenticity of the 
history. The route of the Exodus is confirmed by 
Professor Palmer and M. Naville. Such an able 



MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP. 185 

Egyptologist as Mr. Reginald Stewart Poole declares 
that the most recent discoveries and interpretations 
of hieroglyphics distinctly favor the antiquity of the 
Pentateuch. Egyptian names are given more correctly 
in the Pentateuch than in the later histories, and the 
details are true to Egyptian life." 

I have protracted this argument far beyond the 
limits I intended when I began. It is in no sense 
a critical discussion. I have aimed to put the argu- 
ments for the Mosaic authorship in a popular form, 
so that they can be readily understood by the 
average reader. I have drawn freely upon such 
sources of information as were available to me. 

For a list of authorities, see end of volume. 



PART III. 
The Book or Beginnings. 



187 



CHAPTER XI. 

Beginnings as Revealed in Genesis — ^The Be- 
ginning of the Material Universe and 
of Man. 

The name "Genesis," given to the first book of the 
Old Testament, is a wonderfully suggestive title. It 
comes from the Greek genao, to beget, and means origin,, 
generation. The name is singularly appropriate be- 
cause of the important beginnings of which the book 
treats. 

The first necessary idea in order to the understanding 
of this book is the idea of God. I do not mean that we 
must try to define him, nor do I mean that we must 
comprehend him. We believe in much we can not 
comprehend. There must always be a starting-point in 
every investigation or study. The starting-point here is 
God. Does some one say, How do I know there is a 
God? Suppose I were to say the Bible says so. You 
would say, "But you agree not to begin with revelation, 
but with God." Am I therefore balked in the start? 
By no means. I may ask, Is the God idea a sufficient 
explanation of all things, or is there a better and more 
satisfactory explanation? If not, who can blame me for 
accepting the best explanation that has ever been offered ? 
Need I hesitate because the idea is mysterious? Need 
I wait to solve a thousand speculative questions about 
God before accepting him? An illustration may help us 
just here. I wish to go to New York, but I do not 

189 



190 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

know the way. Some man hands me a guide-book. 
Three courses are open to me. I may say, Where does 
the man live who made this book? What is his size, 
weight, mental characteristics, etc., or I may say. What 
right had any man to make a book? Who gave him 
authority? Or I may try the book and see if it brings 
me to my destination. This is the way we proceed in 
this case. There is a physical world, animal world, 
intellectual world. Will the idea of God account for all 
this? Will this idea serve as guide-book to conduct us 
safely to the end of our journey of enquiry? I answer 
yes. This idea is all-sufficient. 

There is far less mystery with God in the mind than 
without God. One says, I can not understand the idea 
of God. It is too mysterious. But the universe is here; 
man is here. Is it less of mystery without God? The 
very idea of God has done more to solve this mystery 
than ever was accomplished in the laboratory of the 
chemist. Some one may say the God idea does not 
-explain everything. It does not explain itself. It does 
not account for the one great mystery. Do the natural 
sciences explain all? Does not the scientist come to the 
stopping-place? Is it any more mysterious to stop with 
an intelligent God than to stop with dead matter or with 
some primordial form of life whose origin is unknown? 
To me the latter is far more mysterious. In fact, by 
accepting the God idea I trade off a thousand mysteries 
for one great mystery that explains all things. With 
these introductory words let us pass to the study of 
''Beginnings." * 



*In Parker's "People's Bible," in the early chapters of the 
volume on Genesis, suggestive thoughts are found which have 
been utilized in this and subsequent chapters. We recommend 
the reading of this volume. 



HISTORY OF MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 191 

I. First of all, we find in this book a history of 
the beginning of the material universe. 

1. The opening clause, "In the beginning God 
created the heavens and the earth," is wonderful in its 
sweep. 

These words are worthy to stand at the opening of 
such a book. Note how comprehensive it is. The ques- 
tion raised and answered is, not who made a world or 
a solar system or man, but who made all things. It is 
matchless for simplicity and also for its sweep. Here 
is sublime audacity. It is just what we would expect of 
conscious infallibility. What self-confidence ! No hint 
of doubt or possible mistake. 

How true is this to the rules of highest composition. 
Horace's maxim was, ''Rush at once into the midst Of 
affairs." Here is a case in point. In a single sentence 
the great subject of creation is introduced, and we find 
ourselves truly in the midst of affairs. 

2. This manner of beginning a revelation meets a 
just expectation. 

Some statement as to the origin of things ought to 
occur at the opening of a divine revelation. The situa- 
tion demands it. IMan naturally asks this question, Who 
made this universe ? Who made all things ? W^ho made 
me? The house did not make itself. Did the tree? The 
watch did not make itself. Who made the maker? 

3. Certain great and necessary inferences are sus- 
pended on this assertion. If this statement is true, then : 

(1) The universe is not eternal. Do you see the 
heavens? God made them. Do you see the trees? God 
planted them. Do you see the animals? God's plastic 
hand shaped them. Science logically leads to the same 
conclusion: it points to the fact that earth is a develop- 



192 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

ment. This implies a beginning and something to de- 
velop and a law of development. 

(2) Then, creation is the product of intelligence: 
"God created," ''God saw," ''God blessed." Personality, 
mind, intelligence, lie behind all. Contrast this with the 
language of man, "The universe is eternal," "The uni- 
verse came by chance," "God and the universe are one." 
Which answer must we say came from heaven? The 
voice of the created world blends with the voice of 
revelation as is expressed in the words of the Psalmist, 
"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firma- 
ment showeth his handiwork." 

The adaptation of means to ends, everyw'here seen, 
also adds corroborative testimony. The light is adapted 
to the eye, the lungs to the air, the bird to the at- 
mosphere, the fish to the water. Does not this point 
to an intelHgent Creator? When the sacred writer says, 
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the 
earth," he hands us the key that fits the lock, he gives 
us the answer that meets the conditions and circum- 
stances as we see them and know them. In short, it is 
just such a statement as our own reason and intelligence 
demand. 

(3) Then God governs and sustains. How restful 
this. "We are not driftwood on the ocean. If he created, 
is he not interested? How harmonious is all revelation 
at this point. "In him we live and move and have our 
being." "He upholds all things by the word of his 
power." This is the voice of Scripture. If God created, 
then I may rest contented. He will not forsake me if 
L do not forsake him. I ma}^ rest in peace, assured that 
the everlasting arms are beneath me. Whatever may 
fall to my lot, whether joy or sorrow, prosperity or 
adversity, I may confidently believe that "all things 
work together for good to them that love God." 



HISTORY OF MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 193 

(4) The student of God is, then, the greatest of all 
investigators, because he is occupied with the study 
of the greatest subject. Some minds incline toward 
astronomy, some toward botany, some to one thing and 
some to another. All are entitled to credit, and get 
credit, for the work of their choice. When another type 
of mind seizes on God, shall it be sneered at as weak as 
is the fashion with some ? But says one, God is unknow- 
able. Is not the same true of nature, in fact, of every- 
thing? At best we only skim the surface of things. Our 
knowledge at best is superficial. We name mysteries 
and call it science. But if God has revealed himself, he 
is not unknowable within the constitutional limits of the 
human mind. We may not comprehend him in all his 
fullness, but we may know him so far as the finite may 
know the infinite, and our knowledge may be a growing 
knowledge. We may know him better as we study him 
more. 

4. This answer connects the material and spiritual. 
There is something more in the universe than matter. 

Behind all material things there is a spiritual reality. 
Matter is not first, but spirit. Spirit is not a manifesta- 
tion of matter, but matter is a manifestation of spirit. 
Spirit is the eternal entity. Back of the visible there is 
the invisible, that is even more real than the things of 
sense. God is spirit; God created, therefore spirit ante- 
dates matter. 

5. We learn also from this record that creation was 
progressive. (Gen. 1:3-26.) 

(1) The various steps are disclosed: Light; the 
firmament ; water and land separated and earth covered 
with vegetation ; sun, moon and stars ; animal life such 
as is common to the sea (the lowest forms), also fowls; 
cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth; man 



194 THE WOHB OF TRUTH. 

made in the divine image. This is the order accord- 
ing to revelation. 

(2) Here, again, we are met by the corroborating 
testimony of the material world. Scientific research 
shows creation was progressive. All the time science 
demands can be given. ''In the beginning." Hov/ 
sublime and far-reaching in point of time. This record 
concerns itself not so much with dates as w4th truth. 
Let science fix the dates, if it can, still the truth remains 
unshaken. 'Tn the beginning God created the heavens 
and the earth." 

6. This account gives us certain lessons concerning 
God's personality. 

(1) God's sovereignty and power. God said, ''Let 
there be light." He had all power. Xo one directed 
him. There were no limitations upon him. ^lan has 
created nothing. He is merely a modifier, an enquirer, 
an investigator, a namer of things ; creator he never is. 

(2) God's wisdom. What grander revelation of 
w^isdom than the universe? Thought is everywhere 
revealed. How complicated the plan. How mighty in 
sweep. In wisdom how divine. 

(3) God's beneficence. "Seedtime and harvest shall 
not fail." ''He giveth to all. life and breath and all 
things." Provision is made for all. He feedeth the 
young ravens when they cry. Xot a sparrow falls with- 
out his notice. 

(4) God's eternity. Something is, therefore some- 
thing always was. That eternal entity is God. Is it 
not easier to believe in an eternal God than in eternal 
matter without God? 

7. It is very instructive to note the peculiar char- 
acteristics of this account. 

(1) This account is marked by its strictly religious 



HISTORY OF MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 195 

character. A naturalist would doubtless have begun 
very differently, because men begin their revelations 
from the man side of things. Moses began this revela- 
tion from the God side. He began at the fountain and 
not at the stream. We do not blame the physiologist 
for beginning at the man side. Do not blame Moses 
because he began at the other side. His purpose is 
religious. The purpose determines not only the place 
of beginning, but the manner of treatment. 

(2) It is an account in germ or seed merely. Moses 
does not pretend to have exhausted the subject. He 
gives us a skeleton rather than a completely elaborated 
account. The geologist says the word "day" must mean 
ages. So let it be. This in no way affects the truth 
of the account. Again, we are told that things were 
not made just as they now appear ; that various forces 
have contributed to produce existing conditions; that 
forces acting from within and without have modified and 
changed. This is all true, and yet it in no way affects 
the integrity of the account. Moses leaves room for all 
natural agencies to play their part in the production of 
the grand result. There is no conflict between Moses 
and science, unless men foist upon Moses their own 
opinions and interpretations, or accept scientific conclu- 
sions that have not been verified.* 

(3) This account is not fantastic or unreal. It seems 
to be in marvelous harmony with things as we see them 
and know them. Land and water, day and night, moon 
and sun, plants and animals, these are things that come 
within the range of our observation ; they all lie within 
the scope of our faculties for knowing; there is nothing 
with which we are not familiar. 

(4) Note also that this account is amply sufficient. 
It is not enough to be a simple account; not enough to 

* See Chapter XVI. for fuller discussion. 



196 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

be sublime. It must be adequate. It meets the require- 
ments of geology as to time, of evolution as to germ. 
In this statement I do not commit myself to the theory 
of evolution — certainly not to atheistic evolution. Evolu- 
tion in any form must have its beginning point — its 
primal form or germ. Even if the hypothesis of atheistic 
evolution be granted, namely, that progress from lower 
to higher is accomplished by means of resident forces, 
the God idea is not thereby destroyed. The question 
remains, Who made the germ? Who placed within it 
its resident forces? The agnostic may say we do not 
know. By this declaration he is estopped from denying 
the Bible statement. This account says God made it. 
It is an amply sufficient explanation and its truth can 
not be denied. All the most skeptical can say is, "We 
do not know." 

(5) It has the boldness of truth. It is bold to say 
everything has a beginning, but truth is bold. Its state- 
ments are not speculative. They are not hypothetical. 
They are declarative, ■positive, emphatic, dogmatic. 
Error or ignorance hesitates and falters, and speaks 
uncertainly and with downcast eyes. Truth lifts Its head 
with confidence and speaks with assurance. This 
is strikingly illustrated in the utterances of Jesus of 
Nazareth. He has been criticized for his dogmatism, 
but how could he speak otherwise since in him dwelt 
all the fullness of God? He could not reason tentatively 
from the known to the unknown, since there was to him 
no unknown save the one thing he mentioned that for 
some mysterious reason was hidden from him. He 
could not speak hypothetically, but must necessarily 
speak declaratively. He was the conscious incarnation 
of truth, and must needs speak with all the boldness of 
truth. 



HISTORY OF HUMANITY. 197 

II. This is also a history of the beginning of 
humanity. 

1. This book never seems to grow weary of exalting 
the being we call man. 

The effort in his behalf shows his importance. Man 
is the center of all the movement. ^lan is the beneficiary 
of every scheme. Man is the object of deepest solicitude 
and tenderest regard. All this preparation and continued 
effort is for his sake. The creation of the material world 
was for the sake of providing a theater for man's actions 
where he might perform a certain function in his own 
development in accordance with the plan and purpose 
of God. The greatness of the stage and scenery indi- 
cates the greatness of the actor. 

2. Man is greatly exalted in the account given of 
his origin. 

He is not a being of chance. No matter where or 
when he started, God created him. Not only so, but he 
put upon man his own image. Joseph Parker calls this 
amazing audacity. He says in substance, Would an 
artist dare to claim every painting or sculptured image? 
Would the music composer dare to claim every song? 
Yet the Bible says God made man in his image ; sinful 
man, cruel man, plotting man, foolish man, corrupt in 
mind and body. This being was originally made in 
God's own image, however much it may have been 
defaced. 

Perhaps, after all, we have never seen man. Oh, 
could we see with God's eyes ; see the man within ; see 
the real man, the possible man ; it would be an inspiring, 
ennobling sight. This fact should kindle lofty aspira- 
tions and incite to noblest endeavor. God is my Father; 
shall I demean myself? I am the child of a King. Shall 
I show myself worthy of my royal origin? 



198 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

3. Man is also highly exalted as to design and 
function. 

He was never made to be a slave, but to be a ruler. 
(Gen. 1 : 28.) And yet hov^ fev^ really free men there 
are. The masses are slaves, but it is their own fault, 
God made man to be free and to have dominion. 

How sad that man should consent to be a slave when 
freedom is his natural right and divinely given preroga- 
tive ! How strange that man should prefer slavery to 
freedom and even love his degradation and hug the 
chain that binds him! Yet it is true, sadly true, that 
many lose sight of their God-given heritage of freedom, 
and are content to be slaves and sink continually to 
lower and baser conditions. Oh, child of the King, 
awake, put on thy strength, and break the shackles that 
bind you. Lay hold upon your liberty and exercise your 
appointed dominion. 

4. The change in phraseology is calculated to 
heighten our conception of man's importance. 

The account is invested with peculiar grandeur. 
Read Gen. 1 : 1-26. God said, "Let there be light," "Let 
the water bring forth," "Let the earth bring forth,*' etc. 
He now apparently grows meditative and says, "Let us 
make man." Whatever may be said as to the idiom, let 
us allow to this language its suggestive force. ]\Iust 
more than one work in this undertaking? If so, who is 
this partner? I do not know. After all, it may be God 
alone. This may be the plural of dignity, or it may be 
God, the Son and the Holy Spirit which some have 
suggested — which is, in reality, the same thing. This, 
however, I do know, that man is in a sense a partner 
in his own making. ]\Ian is now in process of being 
made. God shaped him, Christ redeemed him, the .Spirit 
sanctified him. Ten thousand agencies are at work on 



HISTORY OF HUMANITY. 199 

him. If I am still being made, have I nothing to do? 
Am I not a partner in my own making? If in my case 
a man is to be made, must I not co-operate with God in 
the making? 

5. This view of the case magnifies man's responsi- 
bilities a thousand-fold. 

I am admonished to join hands with the great 
artificer in my own making. I am invited to enter into 
partnership with God in the accomplishment of the 
noblest work that can be done. 

The appeal is to be a man, a real man, a worthy man, 
a man in God's image and likeness. Will I live or die? 
Will I go up or down? Before every one is set life and 
death, the loftiest possibilities or the deepest degradation. 

It is here we catch the glimpse of the divine image 
when we see the man who has caught the inspiration 
arising from consciousness of divine origin, abashed, 
ashamed of sin, yet with upturned face. All honor to 
the man w^ho aspires to a high destiny. 

6. If we fail to catch the image of God in man as 
he is, there is one place we can see it. 

Do you want to see what God looks like? Do you 
turn with disgust from man? Let us then gaze on the 
picture Jesus gives. *'He that hath seen me hath seen 
the Father." In him we see the harmony of his attri- 
butes, the sublimity of his purpose, the depth of his pity, 
the scope of his wisdom, the perfection of his character. 

Here, also, we see a man ; the perfect image ; the 
man as God would have him ; the human married to the 
divine ; the goil of a continually ascending humanity. 

'Tt doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we 
know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, 
for we shall see him as he is." 



CHAPTER XII. 

Beginnings as Revealed in Genesis — ^The 
Beginning of Family and Business Life. 

1. Man is pre-eminently social in his disposition. 
Hermit life is incompatible with man's nature 

and disposition. The hermit is an unnatural product. 
He is a freak, a curiosity, an abnormal development. 
Natural persons like company ; they must have the 
association of their fellows to be happy. Solitary 
confinement is the severest punishment. Man is 
constitutionally social, and to deny him the associa- 
tion of his fellows is to outrage his social nature. 
The hunger for companionship must be fed. The 
craving for society is as insistent as the craving for 
food. Both are constitutional, and were intended by 
the Creator to be gratified in a proper and reasonable 
way. 

2. The family Is the social unit. 

It Is the fundamental Institution. It has received 
the highest sanction of heaven and earth. It Is the 
source of man's choicest blessings, the fountain of his 
purest, deepest pleasures. 

In the Book of Genesis: 

I. We have a history of the beginning of family 
life. 

And the Lord said, "It Is not good for man to be 
alone." The reason is plain. Man was created for 
200 



BEGINNING OF FAMILY LIFE, 201 

companionship. As the eye dehghts in light, the ear 
in sound, so the social propensity demands company, 
and it is therefore not good for man to be alone. 

1. God is always studying man's good. 

It is very interesting to inquire how God will 
accomplish this immediate good for which he seeks. 
Man is lonely. He needs companionship. As an 
individual he is not self-sufficient. How shall the 
defect be remedied? Three courses are possible: 

Leave him in solitude. This would, however, 
be an outrage on man as he is now constituted. It 
would not remedy the defect. It would break off 
the creation of humanity at the middle point. It 
would be a constitutional injustice: man has a social 
nature that demands satisfaction. To leave him alone 
would be to introduce a discord into nature. Soli- 
tude often means insanity or suicide. God could no 
more leave man alone than he could create eyes with- 
out light or ears without sound. 

Make another man for companionship. Such a 
thing is conceivable, but this would also introduce 
discord. Man, as has been remarked, is not com- 
plete in himself. One man can not supplement the 
deficiencies of another man. Men when put by them- 
selves either kill each other or descend continually to 
lower and baser conditions. This is one reason why 
an army is so demoralizing in its tendencies. This is 
why all male aggregations are, as a rule, corrupt. 
Something is lacking for highest, best and purest 
conditions, whether the body be political, social or 
educational in its nature. 

Create a woman for his companion. Here Is the 
divine solution of the problem. Woman was en- 
dowed by her Creator so as to fill up that which Is 



202 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

lacking in man. Woman is God's answer to man's 
craving for companionship; hence woman is neces- 
sary to keep society in a healthy condition. Woman- 
hood saves the social order. What would the world 
be without her? School, church, state, all need her. 
Woman is the pillar of society. After thousands of 
years of development we are just beginning to appre- 
ciate this truth of revelation, "It is not good for 
man to be alone." This convinces me that the Bible 
is a revelation as well as a development. 

2. Then it follows that the family is a divine in- 
stitution. 

This conception was born in heaven. The family 
is divinely ordained. This is God's first church. 
If there is any place more sacred than another, here 
it is found. Here let virtue reign supreme. Here 
alone souls are sure of one another. Here the heart 
is laid bare, the mask is laid aside. Here is the most 
sacred altar ever reared; happy they who keep the 
fire that God has kindled ever burning. The flame 
of disinterested love is the only fire that should 
burn on this altar, and this is divine. 

3. It is possible to change this paradise into a 
very hell itself. This may be done by : 

Infidelity. It is a significant fact that our Saviour 
made this the sole ground for dissolving the marriage 
relation. God pity the home where virtue is lacking 
in either partner to the marriage bond. It is in truth 
a paradise lost. 

Cruelty. When this is practiced, the guilty party 
is surely lacking in the first qualification for entering 
the marriage relation ; namely, love. Where love 
reigns, cruelty is impossible. Love is the golden 
chain that should bind hearts together, and no ques- 



BEGIXXING OF FAMILY LIFE. 203 

tions of expediency are so great as to take the place 
of this. 

Peevishness. How silly, how contemptible, and 
yet, alas ! how often seen. Fuming, fretting, worrying 
about little, inconsequential things, banishes happiness 
from the home and makes it a place of torment. 

Jealousy. \\^hen this green-eyed monster stalks 
into the home, happiness necessarily departs. Some, 
alas! are so jealous in nature and disposition that 
they are a torment to themselves, and become ob- 
noxious to their companions, for there is nothing 
more unlovely than jealousy. It is the parent of 
envy, falsehood and injustice in a thousand forms. 

Ingratitude. How despicable a thing is this. 
How unbecoming a child, a husband or a wife. 
Home is the place, of all others, where love rears its 
altar and offers its victim for the sake of its loved 
ones. The true father or mother or child stands ready 
to die for the loved ones, and many of them do die 
daily, so to speak. What good word can we speak 
for the ungrateful recipient of this sacrifice? 

Intemperance. If the above have slain their 
thousands, surely this has slain its tens of thousands. 
This has been the fruitful cause of more woe than 
all other causes combined, because it is the parent 
of nearly all other evils that afflict the home. There 
is scarcely a fireside in all our land where this 
terrible dragon has not left its slimy track. In the 
person of father or son, and sometimes in the person 
of wife or daughter, this demon has entered the 
home to destroy its peace. God save us from this 
monster evil should be the prayer of every lover of 
home, and is it too much to say his prayer should be 



204 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

supplemented by the ballot he casts? In short, 
should not every one vote as he prays? 

In truth, there is no more blessed, happy place 
than the virtuous, peaceful home, and, on the other 
hand, there is no more terrible place of torment than 
the polluted, desecrated home. 

4. Note how exalted the Bible makes the creation 
of woman. 

This Book never enslaves woman. "Children, 
obey your parents." "Honor thy father and mother." 
"Husbands, love your wives." This is the Bible 
view. 

Jesus honored women. They were his intimate 
followers. His tenderest words were spoken to and 
in behalf of woman. The same is true of apostles. 
"In Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female." 

To Christianity belongs the credit and honor of 
striking the shackles from the hands of woman and 
lifting her to her divinely appointed place as the 
helpmeet of man. If this has not yet been fully 
realized, it at least seems in a fair way of accomplish- 
ment. God grant that she may be content to exercise 
her divinely intended functions, and not seek to fill 
the place for which man by nature and divine ap- 
pointment is intended to occupy. 

Much has been said about the "rib story," but this 
account is highly creditable to woman. There is 
nothing dishonorable here. It places woman one re- 
move further from common clay. It is a sort of double 
refining process that is described, as some one (was 
it Joseph Parker?) has said; and may we infer from 
this that she is not quite so coarse and gross in 
her nature as man? Surely, at least, the contrary is 
not suggested by this account of her creation. 



BEGINNIXG OF FAMILY LIFE. 205 

From this account several important conclusions 
come: (1) Woman is a part of man. She was not 
built up independently like two separate men might 
have been, and therefore she is not independent of 
man, nor is man independent of her. (2) Woman and 
man taken together make the complete divine con- 
ception. Humanity is a dual unit, so to speak. Man 
taken alone is only a fraction. The same is true of 
vvoman. "They t\Yain shall be one.'' (3) She came 
as a glad surprise. It always has been so. She is 
prepared for man by God. ''A good wife is from the 
Lord." Suddenly Adam recognizes a companion. 
She was the divine answer to Adam's need. 

5. The divine idea of the family is one man and 
one woman. 

Polygamy and polyandry are contrary to nature, 
revelation and normal inclination. God did not make 
one man and many women, nor one woman and 
many men, but he made a pair and he made both 
one. The New Testament emphasizes this idea, "Let 
every man have his own wife, and every woman her 
own husband." If polygamy is tolerated in the Old 
Testament, it is not sanctioned as a fixed and per- 
manent institution. It was permitted like some other 
things, because of the hardness of men's hearts, and 
in the meantime its evils were reduced to a minimum 
pending the introduction of a higher and better order 
to be realized in the new institution. 

It may be well to remark in this connection that 
it is wrong to secularize marriage. Marriage is not 
merely a civil rite, it is a divine institution. It is a 
holy relationship that is entered into by the contract- 
ing parties. Its purpose is divine. *Tt was ordained 
by God for human happiness, and he has blessed it 



206 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

and made it sacred by the solemn sanctions and 
sacred obligations of his word." 

6. Woman is the climax of creation. 

She was made last. In moral perceptions she 
stands the peer, if not the superior, of man. In 
heart power she stands pre-eminent. Is man stronger 
physically? Yes, but the lion is stronger than he. 
Is he stronger intellectually? It may be, but Satan 
is still stronger in this respect. We worship intellect 
too much. This is one of the curses from which as 
a nation we are suffering to-day. We have magnified 
smartness and minimized goodness. Wq have exalted 
intellect to the neglect of heart power. The result 
is a carnival of graft that is appalling. 

In her powers of sympathy and affection, in her 
purity and adherence to principles, in her devotion 
to duty and in her self-sacrifice, in her patience under 
suffering and in her forbearance, woman occupies a 
lofty place. Reverence for womanhood is the salva- 
tion of any people. Is it any wonder that the 
chivalrous man is always and everywhere admired? 

II. We find in this book a history of the beginning 
of business life. 

1. Work, business, employment is a divine in- 
stitution. God gives it the sanction of his own 
example. He worked and then rested. There is 
nothing in the narrative of creation more impressive 
than the divine activity. Jesus sanctioned it by his 
example. At twelve, he said : "I must be about my 
Father's business." He also said : "The Father 
hitherto works, and I work." Christ led a most 
active life. IMorning, noon and night was sanctified 
hy some beneficent ministry. Christianity sanctions 



BEGINNING OF BUSINESS LIFE. 207 

labor, yea, enjoins it. ''Diligent in business" is the 
apostolic injunction. A lazy man can not be an 
ideal Christian man. 

2. This invests labor with wonderful dignity. It 
is honorable in the highest sense. The idea that 
labor is dishonorable has ever cursed the w^orld. It 
curses society wherever it exists. It never fails to 
curse the individual who entertains it. It is strange 
that such an idea should ever have gained currency. 
Rest assured it is from beneath. Whatever tends to 
degrade labor is necessarily evil. One of the bad 
effects of slavery grows out of this fact. The serf- 
dom of the Middle Ages had the same tendency. 
The wage system of the present day can not be the 
final sohition of the labor problem for the same 
reason. 

3. Labor seems to have been a great necessity. 
The first thing that God did after creating man was 
to plant a garden and put man into it to dress and 
keep it. This shows that labor was not imposed as a 
curse. God planted the garden before man fell. 
Doubtless man was put into the garden to dress it 
because labor is a condition of growth and happi- 
ness. Labor, like any other blessing, may be abused. 
It may be made so excessive as to become a curse. It 
is estimated that if everybody worked four hours 
per day, all the reasonable wants of men could be 
met and satisfied. The trouble in our economic 
system is that many do not work at all. Many 
others waste their earnings ; this means that some 
must perform more than their just share of the 
world's work. For every idler somebody must do 
double work. But it should ever be kept in mind 
that a reasonable amount of work is a blessing. 



208 TEE WORD OF TRUTE. 

It follows, therefore, that no man does a worse 
thing than to lift his child above the necessity of 
labor. Poverty may often be a blessing rather than 
a curse, because it may necessitate labor which 
would otherwise be avoided. This is the reason w^hy 
poor boys, as a rule, make the best men. 

4. This account ought to bring God very close 
to us. I labor and toil, but my Father also works. 
There is a very human word here, "God rested." 
How sweet the word "rest" is to a tired man. How 
near it brings God to us to say that he rested. With- 
out this word a great distance would seem to 
intervene between us and God. He is so great in 
creation, so powerful, so wise, that he seems to be 
removed an immense distance from us. This word 
"rested" seems to bridge the chasm. 

5. The true idea of work is the co-operation of 
God and man. In fact, there is another beginning, 
that of human and divine co-operation. God planted, 
man was to till. Here is partnership. It is always 
a blessed thing for man to remember that he is in 
partnership with God. This fact clearly points to 
the dignity and greatness of man. God does some 
things, man does others. The things God does are 
impossible to man. Happy is the man who keeps 
on the human side and does the work that belongs 
to man without worrying himself with the things 
that belong to God. It should, however, be kept in 
mind that this partnership does not involve owner- 
ship. Adam tilled God's garden. The same is true 
yet. We are only stewards, not proprietors. Some- 
times we get to be very vain. We can modify and 
change, hence we feel elated. It is God who does 
the fundamental things. He creates the germ, and 



BEGINNING OF BUSINESS LIFE. 209 

causes it to grow. He gives light, heat, time, 
opportunity. In short, he supphes the prime neces- 
sities. 

6. God shows himself to be a generous, mag- 
nanimous partner. He provided a fruitful, beautiful 
garden. There was everything to gratify man's 
sensuous nature and meet his intellectual and spir- 
itual wants, for the latter even the companionship of 
God. He invested man with wondrous power and 
skill. We can not blame God for man's failure. He 
set him up in business in a royal fashion. 

7. Man's first employment was divinely selected. 
Adam could not feel that possibly he had made a 
mistake in his calling. It is a grand thing to feel 
that we are working where God placed us. A man 
who can feel this will be strong in his work. To 
realize that we are doing what God would have us 
do gives contentment, confidence and strength. 

This divinely selected employment teaches some 
very important lessons : First of all, the lesson of 
industry. The earth is not much impressed by our 
indolent pomposity. She does not care for strutting 
vanity. She responds to nothing but humble toil. 
She says to -man, If you want my rich products, you 
must pay the price of patient labor; sow in the 
autumn, reap in the summer. AVe may get impatient, 
nature will not. "Learn to labor and to wait," says 
mother earth. 

Another lesson is that of honest equivalent. Until 
this is learned there is no solid success. Get much 
for little is the passion with many. Small invest- 
ments, large returns. The earth says, no labor, no 
reward. Much labor, large returns. Here is the' 
law of solid progress. Then, too, it teaches the 



210 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

lesson of like for like. Men can not sow tares and 
reap wheat. "Be not deceived: God is not mocked; 
whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap." 

This is the best school in which to learn the 
lesson of self-control. Fitful anger makes little 
impression on the ground. By storming and raging 
we may frighten a man or a beast, but the earth 
will never tremble. We may coerce man by violence 
into doing our will, but we can not coerce the 
ground. A passionate, fuming, fretful man is never 
a pleasant sight. It is a great school that teaches 
man the lesson of self-control. Industry, patience, 
self-control, an honest equivalent. He who has learned 
these great lessons is far on the road to success. 

Still further, the field teaches that pruning and 
cultivation are necessary to success. Fruit trees 
must be pruned in order to yield fruit. Weeds must 
be uprooted or the crop will perish. This suggests 
a. great lesson in regard to life. The pruning and 
weeding-out processes are necessary in order to 
secure a noble, fruitful life. Vicious habits must be 
cut off. Idleness, lust, laziness, carelessness, slovenli- 
ness, cruelty — these things must be weeded out. 
Truly nature is a comprehensive teacher. Is this 
one reason why so many of our great men come 
from the farm? 

In the field we also learn the important lesson of 
receive and give. This is the true law of growth. 
The plant takes that it may give. It is a greedy, 
hungry thing, but it is also a most generous thing. 
It freely gives back all it receives. Appropriation 
and distribution are the two indispensable conditions 
of growth. To omit either is to arrest the process. 
Happy is he who learns this lesson early in life. 



BEGINNING OF BUSINESS LIFE. 211 

Last of all, in the garden, in the field, is taught 
the lesson of faith. If we have not faith, we will 
not sow. If we have not faith that God will do his 
part, we will not plant. Whether the man realizes 
it or not, faith is the motive power behind all his 
activity. The field is a poor place in which to learn 
the lesson of infidelity. 

The foregoing lessons well learned will go far to 
secure highest success. All true progress proceeds 
on these principles. All great lawyers, doctors, 
preachers, etc., are men of slow growth. '^Hasten 
slowly" is a very wise maxim. Give the mind time 
to expand. Remember, you can not reap till you 
have sown and given the plant time to grow and 
come to maturity. "First the blade, then the ear, 
then the full corn in the ear." Then, too, man must 
be severe with himself. He must prune and weed. 
No matter how dear the evil thing may be, he must 
cut it off. "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it 
out," was the teaching of our Master, and this falls 
into beautiful harmony with the teaching of nature. 
Trvily God conferred on Adam a great blessing when 
he put him in the garden to dress it and to keep it. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Beginnings as Revealed in Genesis — ^The 
Beginning of Probation. 

1. The principle of probation is necessary and far- 
reaching. Probation means the "act of proving." It is 
a test or demonstration. Its purpose is to reveal the 
weak points and demonstrate the strength of that which 

is tested. In the domain of mind it may serve to 
strengthen the intellectual and moral powers. A trial 
successfully encountered strengthens the individual tried. 
Every victory is attended with the acquisition of power. 
Temptation, if resisted, may therefore become a means 
of grace. Does not this throw light on the words of 
the apostle, "Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall 
into manifold temptations, knowing that the proof of 
your faith worketh patience." "Blessed is the man that 
endureth temptation, for Avhen he hath been approved, he 
shall receive the crown of life." However, let it be well 
tmderstood that beneficent ends are reached only when 
temptation Is successfully resisted. If the Individual 
falls, he Is weakened by the experience and less able to 
successfully cope with succeeding temptations. But at 
least we may take comfort from the fact that God. in 
permitting us to be tempted. Is giving us a chance to 
become men of ever-increasing measures of strength and 
power. 

2. It should be kept In mind that this testing process 
is for man's sake. !Man needs to be revealed to himself 

212 



FEATURES OF THIS ACCOUNT. 213 

rather than to be revealed to God. The Creator knows 
the creature, but man does not know himself till he is 
tried. Oftentimes he makes startling and alarming dis- 
coveries that otherwise would have escaped observation 
until perhaps it were too late to be benefited by the 
discovery. Be it also observed that the individual's 
strength, or lack of strength, is only shown when resist- 
ance is put forth, and herein lies a great good. The 
individual discovers where his weak point is, and thus 
he is not only put on his guard, but is enabled to 
strengthen the weak place in his armor. 

In this chapter we will study the testing process as 
it was experienced by the first man and woman, an 
account of which we find in Genesis, second and third 
chapters. Let us notice: 

I. The leading features of this account. 

1. The conditions were eminently favorable to man. 
God planted a beautiful garden and placed man in it to 
dress and keep it. In this garden were fruits necessary 
to satisfy man's wants, of which he might freely eat with 
the exception of the fruit of one tree. This was the only 
restriction placed upon man. His surroundings were 
favorable in the extreme. He was not the victim of 
depraved tastes or bad habits, nor could the blame in 
case of failure be charged to hereditary taint. Further- 
more, his instructions were perfectly clear. Nothing 
could be charged to ignorance. He knew just what was 
required and what the result of disobedience would be. 
Adam's test was therefore the test of human nature 
under most favorable conditions. His fall can not be 
charged to an individual weakness, that a stronger man 
under more favorable circumstances might have 
avoided. 



214 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

In this connection I pause to remark: that whatever 
excuse for sin heredity may offer in certain extreme 
and rare cases, in most instances the plea is that of 
cowardice. It is unmanly for a man to try to throw the 
blame of his moral delinquencies upon his ancestors. If 
the truth could be known, it would doubtless appear that 
heredity has a larger sum to be placed to its credit than 
can justly be charged against it. The legacy of good 
that comes to most of us through heredity is greater 
than the legacy of evil. Let no one, then, drift along 
complacently under the delusion that his sins will be 
charged up to his ancestors. In the judgment he may 
wake to find that in his account with his ancestors the 
balance stands in their favor. 

2. Man's overthrow was accomplished through the 
seductive influence of an adversary called the serpent. 
This adversary worked through Adam's companion, 
who, it is fair to presume, was the more easily influenced 
of the two. This tempter flatly contradicted Adam's 
Maker. His words were believed by the woman and his 
counsel accepted and acted upon. Adam in turn yielded 
to the temptation. God's will was thus set aside in favor 
of Satan's will. Salvation is, after all, a question of the 
supremacy of God's will. When man makes God's will 
his law of life he is saved. Man lost his innocence by 
the act of disobedience. In the exercise of his godlike 
freedom, he chose to go contrary to the divine will, thus 
introducing discord into the moral world. 

This leads us to consider : 

II. The nature of the test. 

1. It was. simple. This is a most necessary quality. 
It must be easily understood. Infidelity says : "It is 
unreasonable to suppose that God would have hinged 



NATURE OF THE TEST. 215 

man's destiny on anything so simple." It is in this fact 
that the wonderful wisdom becomes most apparent. A 
difficult, incomprehensible test would have placed man 
at a great disadvantage; in fact, would have been no 
test at all. The simplicity of the test does, not, however, 
destroy its strength, but, on the contrary, increases it. 
It appealed to man's appetite, which is the weakest 
point, in the most direct and simple way. 

2. It was purely a test of faith. It was a positive 
precept. The reason for obedience rested solely in the 
authority of the lawgiver. No reason for obedience 
could have been apparent except the fact that God had 
required it. It is not too much to say that man's loyalty 
to God could not have been tested by a moral precept. 
The reason for this must be apparent to any one on a 
moment's reflection. Nor would a test involving a 
moral principle have been so strong a test of faith. 
Moral principles have their basis in the nature of things. 
A moral act is right or wrong in itself. A positive act is 
right simply because commanded. Hence, a positive act 
enjoined by the lawgiver is the strongest possible test 
of loyalty and of faith. 

We should guard against the idea that this test was 
the cause of man's sin. It rather revealed him to him- 
self. It showed him the weakness of his confidence in 
God. Under the Christian dispensation baptism furnishes 
just such a test. Some object to it because no moral 
quality is discoverable in it. It is this fact that makes 
it purely an act of faith. It is therefore a test of 
loyalty. That it has a spiritual significance is true, but 
the act in itself has no discoverable moral quality. The 
reason for its performance rests solely on the authority 
of the Lawgiver, hence he prefaces his command with 
the declaration of his authority : "All authority has been 



216 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore 
and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into 
the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." It 
is not, therefore, an act that may be changed or set aside 
on the ground that it has no moral quality, but it is a 
test of loyalty and faith, being the first overt act required 
of the penitent believer. 

We are next led to consider : 

III. The nature of the penalty. 

But two positions, so far as I can see, are possible : 
First, that the penalty was physical death, or, second, 
that it was' moral or spiritual death. 

1. It was not physical death, as appears from the 
following reasons. Death was in the world before man 
sinned. Adam's physical life was sustained by death ; 
consequently, physical death existed prior to Adam's 
sin. The design that is shown in natural things reveals 
the idea of death. Some animals are created so as to 
be able to prey on other animals. The ox grazing in the 
meadow, the lion feeding on his prey, the weaker 
animal feeding on the stronger, all teach the lesson that 
life is sustained by death. Furthermore, the language 
used is very specific. *Tn the day that thou eatest 
thereof thou shalt surely die." As this points to an 
immediate death, and Adam did not die physically for 
hundreds of years, physical death could scarcely have 
been the penalty. Other strong reasons might be given. 

2. It must therefore have been a moral death. 
Herbert Spencer's definition of life fits this account most 
admirably. He says : "Life is correspondence to environ- 
ment." The Bible teaches that God is the true environ- 
ment of the soul. "In him we live and move and 
have our being." We hear much said about the imma- 



LESSON OF THE TEST. 217 

nence of God, which, properly understood, is -doubtless 
a true doctrine — that is, when it does not take on a 
pantheistic form — but the immanence of man in God 
seems to be the divine conception. To dwell in God, 
and hence to enjoy man's divinely ordained environment, 
is to live in him by faith, confidence and obedience. It is 
to make the divine will and purpose our will and pur- 
pose. Hence, when the human will or Satan's will is 
exalted above the divine will, man's true environment 
is lost. There is no longer correspondence to environ- 
ment as Henry Drummond argues, and death is con- 
sequently the result. Disobedience separates man from 
God, or, as the Scripture puts it: "Our sins separate 
between us and God." Therefore by disobedience the 
soul loses its true environment, and hence is dead, or, 
in other words, disobedience causes moral death. All 
this harmonizes with Christ's definition of life. "This is 
life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true 
God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." John 
also teaches the same doctrine : "He that hath the Son 
hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not 
life." The penalty is, therefore, a natural result rather 
than an arbitrary punishment. 

IV. The lesson of the test. 

1. We learn that God, in creating man, did not 
create a mere machine. Inferentially we gathered this 
from the statement that God created man in his own 
image. Here, however, the truth comes out clear and 
strong. Man has power to choose. He is not a being 
acting under a compulsory and immutable decree. In 
this respect he is like his great Creator. God is a free 
agent, and he has endowed his creature man with this 
divine attribute. Man can act from within and not 



218 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

simply because acted upon from without. Here is the 
basis of human responsibihty. 

In order for man to exercise choice and give expres- 
sion to his own will, there must be certain lines of con- 
duct to choose between. God therefore gave him choice 
between obedience and disobedience. Gen. 2:16, 17: 
"Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but 
of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not 
eat of it." Here are two simple lines of conduct pointed 
out to man ; one is right and the other is wrong. He is 
permitted to take his choice. He is not compelled to do 
the right, but he is held responsible. God does not 
propose to secure right acting by a mere exercise of 
omnipotent power. This would be to rob man of his 
chief glory. God permits the possibility of wrong for 
the sake of securing right through independent, free 
action. How great is the being we call man ! 

2. We learn that it is necessary to subject every- 
thing intended for high and noble use to this testing 
process. This importance is acknowledged and acted 
upon in all the practical affairs of life. The man who 
purchases a horse desires to test him that he may know 
his value. The vessel is tested to ascertain its strength. 
The steam boiler is tested before it is placed where it 
can endanger life. So God tested the most wonderful 
piece of mechanism he had ever made. This was not 
simply an individual test, but the test of human nature. 
Adam's sin revealed the weakness of man. and not simply 
of a man. Adam's fall was the fall of all. "As in 
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 

3. We l©arn that the testing process is individual as 
well as general. Adam fell in an individual as well as 
in a representative capacity, and his experience shows 
that everv man will fail as he failed. Unaided human 



LESSOX OF THE TEST. 219 

nature can not endure this test. Our own consciousness 
tells lis we have failed. "If we say that we have no 
sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" 
(1 John 1:8). But let us remember that it is not God's 
purpose to leave man to struggle against the forces of 
sin without divine help. This is realized in the second 
Adam, not in the first. The divine plan contemplates the 
marrying of the human to the divine. Man is to be 
made partaker of the divine nature. This is the grand 
consummation had in view;, and not until this point is 
reached is creation complete, and to this goal the divine 
plan majestically advances nor does it stop short of its 
attainment. This, then, is the divine plan for overcoming 
sin — to unite the human and the divine. This is accom- 
plished by the Divine Spirit taking up its abode in man. 
This gift of the Spirit is the crowning blessing of the 
Christian dispensation. This is the great consummation 
that God had in view from the beginning. If at any 
time we come short, or fall before the onslaughts of 
Satan, let us not give up in despair, but rather let us be 
comforted by the words of the great apostle: "Not that 
I have already attained or am already made perfect; but 
T press on if so be that I may apprehend that for which 
also I was apprehended by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I 
count not myself yet to have apprehended, but one thing 
T do, forgetting the things which are behind and 
stretching forward to the things which are before, I 
press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high call- 
ing of God in Christ Jesus." Be it observed that Adam 
was safe so 'long as he held on to God by faith. We 
must lay hold of God by faith in order to stand the test. 
Jesus came to give us such a vision of God as will 
■enable us to trust him. Hence he says: "Without me 
ye can do nothing." "He that hath seen me hath seen 



220 TEE WORD OF TRUTH, 

the Father." The man who lays hold of God by faith as 
he is revealed in Jesus Christ, and whose faith eventuates 
in obedience to the positive test imposed, thus demon- 
strating the genuineness of his faith, receives the gift of 
the Holy Spirit, and thus endowed he goes forth to the 
conflict in the sure confidence of ultimate victory. 

4. We learn that this test, like everything else God 
does in his dealings with man, had reference to man's 
good. We should not regard this language as a 
challenge or threat. It is rather a revelation. Its pur- 
pose was to reveal to man his danger. Man's danger is 
never so great as when he is ignorant of any danger. To 
know one's danger is the strongest fortification against 
it, short of divine help. Nor was this a plan to involve 
man in difiiculty. It is rather a mark of benevolence. It 
is a kindness to reveal man to himself. "Know thyself* 
is a most necessary and wholesome injunction. 

5. In this test is shown the very narrow line be- 
tween safety and ruin. This is true as regards life and 
death of every kind. One act and we die physically. 
One act and we die morally. One act and we die so- 
cially. One wrong line of action and we die intellect- 
ually. The body may be slain by a single act. Virtue, 
honesty, truthfulness, may be lost by a single act. So- 
cial standing may be thrown away by one misde- 
meanor. Intellectual vigor may be destroyed by one 
bad habit. The two spheres touch. There is no 
borderland between. 

6. This test reveals the fact that there is a boundary 
line to the gratification of the senses beyond which one 
may not pass except at his own awful peril. Only one 
tree was prohibited. Thus far shalt thou go, but no 
farther. There is, and there must be, a limit to the 
gratification of appetite. One of the greatest perils to 
the soul lies in an undue influence of the senses. The 



LESSON OF THE TEST. 221 

senses are intended to be man's faithful servants, but 
woe be to that man when they become his master. Paul 
said : "Fleshly lusts war against the soul." "I keep my 
body under." The man that reels along the street with 
almost idiotic expression of countenance, or perchance 
wallows in the gutter, or that other with brutish, lustful 
features, failed to learn this lesson. The senses have 
become masters. Such have failed to learn that there is 
a tree the fruit of which they may not eat. 

7. In this test we learn that the citadel of man's 
moral nature is captured easiest if attacked along the 
line of the senses. Satan never makes a mistake in a 
matter like this. He always attacks the weakest place. 
He never comes to a man at his strong point. This fact 
reveals to us the danger of much that is being carried 
on around us. The open saloon is Satan's battering-ram 
to beat down the fortifications of the soul. It is an 
attack through the senses. Sensual plays, songs and 
pictures serve Satan's purpose in the same way. Sensual 
literature is a most eflFective weapon for the destruction 
of the soul. Paul saw the danger and said : "Lust when 
it is finished bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is 
finished bringeth forth death." This should teach us to 
avoid all institutions that administer to the gratification 
of the senses merely. The pleasure of the senses should 
never be sought as an end, but the senses should be used 
as means by which high and noble ends are reached. 
This principle condemns many of the .practices of men. ' 
Dancing, much of the theater-going, the drinking of 
spiritous liquors, are examples in point. To use the 
senses as servants means to mount heavenward. To 
use them as mere instruments of pleasure means to 
travel the downward ro^d that leads to death. 

8. This test shows that the triumph of sense means 
the ruin of man's highest interests. The eating of the 



222 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

iorbidden fruit meant the loss of man's highest privileges 
— loss of God's fellowship, loss of a beautiful place of 
abode admirably adapted to man's every want, the loss 
of peace, self-respect and happiness. This truth is illus- 
trated in numerous instances : 

When Eve saw that the fruit was pleasant to the eye 
and good for food, she yielded to the temptation. When 
Esau's appetite craved Jacob's savory dish, he bartered 
his birthright for it. ^^'hen the Israelites in the wilder- 
ness remembered the leeks and onions of Egypt, they 
murmured against God and Closes, and lost the promised 
land by their rebellion. When David saw the beauty of 
Uriah's wife, he devised murder in his heart in order to 
secure her. We see men every day bartering highest 
privileges for the pleasures of sense that endure but a 
moment. The body, the intellect, the conscience, the 
soul, eternity itself, are sacrificed for sense. Paul says, 
''To be carnally minded is death." 

9. As we study this test, certain great truths stand 
out in bold relief. A\'e may learn that : 

(1) There is much of good that may be enjoyed. 
Man's earthly abode is furnished with many blessings. 
There are many trees of blessing: The intellectual 
tree, the social tree, the religious tree all bear good fruit, 
and even the tree of sense bears wholesome food. The 
sin lies in the abuse and not in the proper use. 

(2) God's blessings must be enjoyed under divine 
restrictions. To disregard thesg restrictions is to perish. 

(3) There is a fellowship of evil: wrong-doing likes 
company. Herein i? seen the power of example. 

(4) The insufficiency of unaided human nature should 
never be lost sight of. A'ictory is possible through the 
second Adam, not through the first. 

(5) It is possible to rise out of defeat and to turn 
it to hiehest account. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Beginning as Revealed in Genesis — The Be- 
ginning of Sin and Its Attendant Evils. 

1. A serious view of sin is a matter of great im- 
portance. There is nothing more disastrous, nothing 
more to be deplored, than the disposition to take light, 
inadequate views of sin. Unfortunately, this disposition 
prevails to an alarming extent. There is a tendency to 
regard sin as rather a misfortune than as a fault. It is 
excused, palliated and condoned. It is clothed in such 
attractive dress or cloaked in such euphemistic phrases 
that its hideous character is lost sight of. It is perhaps 
impossible for us to fully comprehend the awful, deadly 
nature of sin. The Bible always magnifies its terrible 
character. It employs the strongest language in describ- 
ing it. It uses leprosy, the most loathsome disease known 
to man, as its symbol. It connects it with the most awful 
penalties, both here and hereafter. 

2. The meaning of sin should be profoundly im- 
pressed on every mind. The Bible defines it as a trans- 
gression of law. This may seem to be a small matter. 
but a moment's reflection will show it to be of most se- 
rious moment. Law is an expression of God's will which 
is the fountain of all harmony and blessedness. Order 
prevails only where God's will is supreme. It reigns in 
the physical world because there God's will is supreme. 
It reigns in heaven for the same reason. There is discord 
on earth because God's will is not done and because man 



224 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

in the exercise of his own will has moved in opposition to 
the divine will. Sin violates the moral order of the uni- 
verse and therefore has consequences of the most far- 
reaching character. It breaks the connection between 
man and God, and hence introduces death. 

3. Etymologically, the word is most suggestive. 
Hamartia (translated "sin") means to miss the mark. 
It means that the individual is turned from the true 
course of life ; that he is not moving in the divinely ap- 
pointed orbit. Having departed from the right path, 
he can never reach his high destiny unless he is brought 
back to the divinely appointed way. God's will must be 
made supreme, and consequently man's will must be sub- 
ordinated to the will divine. Unless this be done man will 
miss the mark. He will not achieve the high ends of 
being. Consequently, it is said God can not look upon 
sin with the least degree of allowance. To do so would 
be to encourage rebellion and bring about the overthrow 
of his moral government. 

I. The Book of Genesis gives us a history of the 
beginning of sin. 

1. Alan's primitive condition of holiness is the true 
background upon which to project the dark picture of sin. 
The first picture which the divine artist paints of man is 
one of exceeding beauty. He had a holy nature, a place 
exactly suited to his wants, congenial companionship, 
intimate personal communion with God. suitable employ- 
ment. As a natural result of this holiness, man was 
happy. Holiness and happiness stand in the relation of 
cause and effect ; man can not have the latter without the 
former. Happiness is the stream of which holiness is 
the fountain. Happiness is the fruit of which holiness 
is the tree. External circumstances can never bring to 



BEGINNING OF SIN. 225 

man real and true happiness. "Being" is the fountain 
of happiness and not ''having." 

2. Man's actual condition is one of sinfulness or 
depravity. It is unnecessary to take up time to prove the 
existence of sin. Is it right for a man to degrade himself 
to the brute level? Is it right for an ingrate son to 
break the heart of father and mother? Is it right for an 
abandoned husband and father to disgrace children and 
break the heart of his innocent wife ? Is it right for the 
demon in human shape to blig^ht the life of the innocent, 
trusting maiden? Is there no diflference in the moral 
quality of actions? To ask these questions is to answer 
them. Every man's own consciousness declares him to 
be a sinner. Few people can be found who will claim 
to be sinless, and the few strangely deluded souls who 
do make this claim disprove their own claim by their 
words and actions. The best are conscious not only of 
shortcomings, but of more or less actual transgression. 
The Bible statement, "There is none righteous, no, not 
one," is fully corroborated by conscious human experi- 
ence. 

3. The Bible account of the origin of sin is entirely 
reasonable and adequate. The Bible in large measure 
assumes the fact of sin and that man recognizes its exist- 
ence. It declares it as a fact, but it does not stop to 
prove it. It never argues the case. It assumes that 
which consciousness recos^nizes. It does, however, offer 
an explanation of the recognized existing fact. It states 
how it originated. Man was put into Eden with freedom 
of choice. Two lines of conduct were placed before Him 
and open to him. A malignant agent came and tempted 
the woman. She yielded to the temptation and aftervv^ard 
the man also fell. This account is entirely reasonable. 
Some ridicule it and call it silly; still, no one can deny 



226 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

that the world is sick. We do not trust, love and sym- 
pathize. We do hate and injure one another. What 
made the world sick? The Bible says it was the fruit 
of disobedience, and all must admit that this is a reason- 
able explanation. The account is also entirely adequate. 
The fruit of disobedience will make a man sick physi- 
cally ; all physical disease grows out of disobedience. 
The same is true socially ; social evils result from the 
violation of moral law. The same is true legally: those 
men behind the bars ate the fruit of disobedience. 
The law holds good spiritually ; spiritual disease and 
death follow disobedience to divine law. 

4. Disobedience is not spontaneous to the human 
soul. ]\Ian's spiritual overthrow^ was accomplished by 
an external agent. The suggestion to sin did not come 
from within. This fact alone is sufficient to kindle hope. 

Who was this external agent? On this point the 
Scriptures are explicit. Rev. 12:7,9: *'And there was 
war in heaven : and ^lichael and his angels fought against 
the dragon. . . . And the great dragon was cast 
out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which 
deceiveth the whole world : he was cast out into the earth, 
and his angels were cast out with him." {b) John 
8:44: "Ye are of your father, the devil, and the lusts 
of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the 
beginning, and abode not in the truth." ^latt. 25 : 41 : 
"Then shall he say to them on the left hand, Depart from 
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the 
devil and his angels." 2 Pet. 2:4: "For God spared not 
the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and 
delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved 
vnto judgment." 

The existence of Satan is a logical necessity, the 
existence of sin being admitted. There must necessarily 



BEGINNING OF SIN. 22T 

be grades of sin or wrong. He who descends to the 
lowest depth is Satan. It also seems to be true that the 
higher the nature, the lower the fall of which it is 
capable. Satan before he fell doubtless stood near the 
throne. 

A reason for the difference in God's treatment of sin- 
ning men and sinning angels may here be seen. Angels 
sinned from within. Such seems to be the necessary con- 
clusion. Man sinned through the temptation of an ad- 
versary. 

5. The character of the temptation Satan employed 
is very clear. 

It appealed to man's natural desire to rise. It was 
a good that Satan offered. ''Ye shall be as gods." This 
desire to rise is right. I pity those who do not aspire. 
Satan took advantage of this. So he always comes. The 
entrance to the paths of sin is made beautiful. 

It utilizes the tendency in men to regard themselves 
as exceptions to general rules. Eat, said Satan ; you will 
not die. You will be an exception. So it is now. Will 
this cup kill? Yes, but I will be an exception. Disre- 
gard this condition of success; you will escape the con- 
sequences. Men indulge in wine, cards, gambling, all 
forms of dissipation, on this principle. 

It introduced into man's heart distrust of God. God 
is unreasonable. "Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat 
of any tree of the garden?" Spoken, maybe, with covert 
sneer. It hinted also at the possibility of God being jeal- 
ous or unreasonable, or lacking in desire for man's high- 
est good. 

It appealed to the tendency to weigh the divine com- 
mands in the scales of human judgment. It looks good, 
therefore it is good. How modern is this account; in 
fact, it happens every day. 



228 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

It probably made use of the power of example. 
''When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, 
. . . she took of the fruit thereof." Satan may have 
eaten. How else could Eve have seen that the tree was 
good for food? A mighty power this for evil. There is 
nothing so persuasive as example. 

It was a very cunning and subtle temptation. Woman 
is more confiding and less suspicious than man. She 
was alone and unsupported. The devil never comes to 
a man at his strongest moment. 

It was accomplished through the agency of a third 
party. What was this serpent? A subtle animal — an 
instrument Satan could use. It had the gift of speech, 
whatever it may have been. The practical point is that 
Satan used an instrument. He does so yet. x\uthors, 
lecturers, young men, maidens, music, art, may all be 
made the tools of Satan. 

6. A few results of yielding to Satan are shown : 

'Their eyes were opened." Temptation closes men's 
eyes, but sin and guilt are great eye-openers ; we see 
ourselves as we are ; we loathe our ugliness, at least in 
the first stages. 

They were ashamed. They made aprons of fig leaves. 
This is a modern practice ; we try to cover our deformity 
with garments of our own making. One man makes him 
an apron of money or property, another of education, 
another of social standing. No garment of man's mak- 
ing can ever cover the deformity of sin. 

II. We have in the Book of Genesis a history of 
the beginning of fear. (Gen. 3 : 8-13.) They hid them- 
selves because they were afraid. 

1. God's first question to man is very suggestive: 
''Where art thou?" Why should God ask such a ques- 



BEGINNING OF FEAR. 229 

tion? He needs no instruction. Is infinite wisdom seek- 
ing instruction of a finite man? There is no more 
impressive way of giving instruction than by putting it in 
interrogative form. The attempt to answer the question 
reveals in a striking way the truth that needs to be im- 
pressed. Hence it is that God's revelation abounds in 
questions of God addressed to man : "Why do you spend 
your money for that which is not bread ?" "What shall 
it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and 
lose his own soul?'' "Why stand here all the day 
idle?" "Turn ye, turn ye, for why will you die?" 

2. The purpose of God's question clear. It looks 
manward. It is not for God's information. He requires 
us to pray, yet he knows our wants. The secret is not 
hard to discover. It is asked for man's sake. Why does 
the teacher ask questions? In trying to answer, the 
pupil discovers his weak point. So God deals with us. 
He reveals us to ourselves in the most impressive way. 

3. God's question teaches some important truths by 
implication. We may surely learn that man was not in 
his true position — the position where God placed him. 
At first he was in a calm, expectant attitude, awaiting 
God. Not so now. He no longer awaits God's coming 
with composure. "Where art thou ?" He was no 
longer in the right place, but he was in a false posi- 
tion, a position where he ought not to be. He was 
hiding away in fear; shrinking aw^ay in dread. This 
is a sad spectacle : creature afraid of creator, man 
afraid of God, child afraid of his father. 

There was nothing in God to cause fear in man. God 
is pure, but children do not fear purity. It is true, how- 
ever, that the impure hate purity. God is holy, but chil- 
dren do not fear holiness. Children struggled to get into 
Christ's arms. When children fear you, fear yourself. 



230 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

God is wise, but children do not fear wisdom. What 
child ever feared his father more, for being wise ? Does 
he not think father knows more than all others? God 
i? powerful, but children do not fear power. In answer- 
ing God's question, Adam could not place the blame for 
his fear upon God. 

There was nothing in man's surroundings to cause 
man to be afraid of God. Ther-e was a rich banquet for 
his physical nature ; a world of symbolized thought for 
his intellectual nature. How much there is to kindle 
thought, awake reflection, call imagination into activity. 
For his emotional nature, Eden's beauties were prepared. 
For his social nature, there was a perfect companionship. 
Sometimes two are unhappily mated, but not so here. 
God made this match. For his spiritual nature there was 
close fellowship with God. The closer we get to God the 
more we grow spiritually. Man loves power. Here is 
a world to govern to gratify this propensity. All things 
were put under him. Was not everything calculated to 
awaken confidence? One would expect to see man run- 
ning to God and falling into his arms like the little child 
when father comes at evening. Instead, he hides away 
with wildly beating heart, with pale cheek blanched 
with dread and fear. Something terrible has happened. 

4. God's question reveals much as to himself. It shows 
that his interest in man is still alive. "Where art thou?" 
God might have hurled man down as he did fallen angels. 
He might have turned his back in indifiference and left 
him to his awful fate, but we see that God will still seek 
man, although he hide away in guilty fear. All God's 
dealing is a continual search after the hiding culprit. 
Jesus said : "The Son of man is come to seek and to 
save that which was lost." "What man of you having 
a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave 



BEGINNING OF ENVY. 231 

the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that 
which is lost until he find it?" The gospel of God's 
grace is all wrapped up in the question, "Where art 
thou?" 

5. We may also get a hint from this question con- 
cerning duty. It is the duty of man to take his bearings, 
to see where he is. Many never ask the question, ''Where 
am I?" till it is too late. It is the duty of man to think. 
Oh that my people would consider ! No man who hides 
from God will stay hid very long, if he thinks. There is 
no more healthy exercise than that of thinking; nor is 
th'ere anything ^hat people are less disinclined to do. 
]\Ien escape the necessity, if possible. 

6. Some results of this fear of God are very manifest. 
Fear is the parent of much of false religion, and even 
much atheism. The slavish fear of God leads to deeds 
of self-torture and all the hideous practices of ignorance 
and superstition, and, on the other hand, the fear or 
God leads some to try to persuade themselves that there 
is no God. 

Fear causes men to fight God. We fight what we 
fear. It is also love that brings man into willing sub- 
jection to the infinite Father. Fear deprives man of 
his truest happiness. Fear is slavery, it is torture ; it 
takes the joy and sweetness out of life and fills it with 
dread. 

III. In the Book of Genesis we also find the be- 
ginning of envy. 

1. The dire effects of disobedience soon manifested 
themselves in the history of our race. Let no one enter- 
tain the fatal delusion that the bitter harvest of sin is 
either uncertain or far away. Those who are disposed 
to take light views of sin ought to see their mistake 



232 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

by considering the developments that took place soon 
after its introduction into the world. The innocence, 
the joy, the blessedness of Eden withered under its 
blighting touch. It was impossible for man to lose his 
holiness and retain his happiness. When will mankind 
learn this important truth ! 

2. The dark picture is revealed in its hideous out- 
lines in the history of Cain. 

Here we discover that man, made in the image of 
God — made to love — had lost this divine characteristic 
and had become like the master he had chosen — that 
wicked one through whose agency sin had entered the 
world. The subjective effects of sin upon the hearts and 
lives of the first pair are not revealed to us, the outward 
consequences alone are disclosed. But in the case of 
Cain, the inward effects are clearly manifest. Xo more 
unlovely sight can be imagined than the view the divine 
artist paints of this sin-cursed life. 

It is important also to keep in mind the fact that the 
results of sin seen in the life of Cain are possible in the 
life of every man. That they are not realized in each 
individual is due to the goodness of God manifested in 
the remedial agencies which he has graciously inau- 
gurated and through which the awful effects of sin are 
thwarted in many cases and potentially in all. 

3. The history given us of Cain brings to view the 
diabolical principle of envy as an active force in the 
human soul. This satanic feeling is one of the firstfruits 
of a sinful heart. It is specially characteristic of its 
author, the devil. Satan introduced into God's universe 
sin by opposing his will to the will divine and the eft'ects 
were speedily manifest. Envy was the natural and 
necessary fruit, and this deadly principle caused him to 
lift up the hand of rebellion against Jehovah. Being 



BEGINNING OF ENVY. 233 

cast out of heaven on this account, he became the prince 
of darkness, and we are told that he goes up and down 
in the earth seeking whom he may devour. This deadly 
principle took possession of Cain, as in fact it does of 
every man who yields himself up to become the servant of 
Satan. His heart — and this is the fountain of life in every 
man — having been polluted by sin, to which he had 
doubtless given hospitable entertainment, had become 
the abode of envy, an inevitable result in all such cases. 
Fraternal love was driven from his heart by the envy he 
felt because his brother's offering had been accepted by 
God while his own had been rejected. The reason for 
this discrimination doubtless lay in the fact that Abel 
offered his sacrifice according to God's will, while Cain 
in making his offering had substituted his own will for 
the will divine. But this mattered not with sinful Cain. 
Envy entered his heart and was allowed to dwell there, 
and whenever this is the case the most serious conse- 
quences must inevitably follow. Now the conditions 
exist adequate to produce deeds of darkness of the black- 
est hue. 

This account shows to us the unnatural and inhuman 
character of envy. Abel was a lovable brother. He was 
guilty of no provocation. He even desired his brother's 
acceptance with God. He did not parade his own right- 
eousness or exult in the fact that he enjoyed the divine 
favor. Envy, however, is blind to every lovable trait. 
It hears no word of approval for the object against which 
it is directed. Cain disregarded even the natural ties of 
brotherhood. Abel Vv^as his own mother's son. He had 
shared with him the love of the samo parents and 
enjoyed the blessing of the same home. A true man 
will love even an unworthy brother. Envy closes the 
eyes to the noblest qualities and steels the heart against 
the holiest ties. It is indeed a hideous monster, an 



234 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

emanation from the bottomless pit, a child of the devil, 
nTanifesting his diabolical character to the fullest extent. 

IV. The history also makes clear the fact that 
hatred comes next in order as a natural and inevitable 
consequence of envy. 

1. This hatred did not result from wrong that had 
been suffered. Hatred does not always result from 
wrongs received. I believe I may go so far as to say it 
does not generally result in that way. We are more apt 
to hate those we wrong than those that wrong us. It is 
generally very hard to forgive a man for the wrong we 
do him. 

2. In this case the hate was clearly the outgrowth of 
envy. It is always but a short step from envy to hatred. 
He who gives hospitable entertainment to the demon of 
envy will soon have a brood of devils encamped within 
him. The dislike and hatred everywhere seen are for the 
most part the children of envy. It is hard for some men 
to look complacently on the success of others. Envy 
enters their hearts and hatred soon follows. It is hard 
for some men to treat a rival with noble magnanimity, 
especially when the rival seems to be meeting with the 
larger jneasure of success. Envy followed by hatred 
too often is the* result. This feeling of hatred in Cain 
shows that the downward path of the soul in sin is very 
swift. 

V. The next logical step in this awful development 
was that of violence. 

"Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew 
him" (Gen. 4:8). 

1. This account shows the blindness of violence. 
Cain's nature demanded that which Abel could give. 
He needed sympathy ; Abel could give it. He needed 



VIOLENCE. 235 

help; Abel could be a competent helper. The violent 
man generally inflicts the deepest wounds upon himself. 
The murderer suffers more than his victim, and if he 
is past suffering it only shows his condition to be still 
more deplorable. 

2. This account shows one fruitful cause of violence. 
The first murder was instigated by hatred and not by 
revenge. Jesus said, "He that hateth his brother is a 
murderer." When revenge is the immediate cause, 
hatred is generally a more remote cause. A man is never 
so much the child of Satan as when he lifts up his hand 
in violence (except in self-defense or on behalf of the 
weak), because back of it lie the evil passions of envy 
and hatred. 

3. Furthermore, this account shows what right may 
always expect from wrong. The first murder was the 
slaying of the innocent by the guilty. The first murderer 
was a wicked man, while the first martyr was a saint. 
This should teach us that there neve-* can be any com- 
promise between good and bad. Evil will never recog- 
nize the right of the good to exist. Righteousness is 
always an offense to wickedness. Every great cause 
of truth and right has been founded in the blood of 
martyrs. Every attempt that right makes to compromise 
with wrong is at the expense of right. This explains 
why the license system of dealing with the liquor problem 
is always and everywhere a failure. It is an attempt to 
compromise with wrong. 

4. We may learn from this account that a righteous 
death is more to be desired than an unrighteous life. 
Abel's death had in it a crown of glory. Being dead, 
he yet speaks as the advocate of truth and integrity. 
Cain said: "My punishment is more than I can bear." 
So it must ever be. Whose place in history is more to 
be desired — Cain's or Abel's ? Herod's or John's ? Nero's 



236 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

or Paul's? This fact should be sufficient to regulate 
every act of life. A right act, though it fail, is better 
than a wrong act, though it succeed. 

5. The fact is here disclosed that death is not the 
worst evil nor life the highest boon. Abel was right- 
eous. His death could not have been inflicted as a pun- 
ishment. Had death been a necessary evil and life a 
necessary boon, would not Cain have died and Abel have 
continued to live ? May we not read in this death a prom- 
ise of a better life beyond? If Abel's life ended here, is 
not wrong better than right, evil better than good? A 
future life is demanded to right the wrongs of this 
world. 

6. The innate sympathy of man with that which is 
good is shown by the place assigned to Abel in the com- 
mon heart of mankind. Let it not be supposed that man- 
kind naturally, spontaneously and willingly approves the 
wrong and condemns the right. The exact reverse is 
true. The people love the right and hate the wrong; 
they love justice and hate injustice; they love mercy 
and hate cruelty; they love liberty and hate oppression. 
Men may choose the wrong through ignorance or prej- 
udice. Individuals may choose the wrong through self- 
interest or other base motives, but the people enlightened 
and freed from prejudice, when they see and understand 
the right, will approve it in preference to the wrong. 
This is one hopeful indication. So said Wendell Phillips, 
and universal history asserts the truth. Righteous Abel 
has ever held a place of honor, respect and love in the 
hearts of mankind, while Cain has ever been regarded 
with aversion and horror. This is one explanation of the 
truth so well expressed by the poet : 

"Truth crushed to earth will rise again; 
The eternal years of God are hers ; 
While error wounded writhes in pain, 
And dies amidst its worshipers." 



CHAPTER XV. 

Beginnings as Revealed in Genesis — The 
Beginning of Altruism and of Human 
Redemption. ^ 

1. The doctrine of egoism is destructive to the best 
interests of humanity. No man Hves unto himself. To 
attempt it is to undertake the impossible. It is to set 
at naught the demands of the physical and intellectual 
constitution of man. It is to strike at the social order 
as designed by the Creator. To live for self is to defeat 
the very purpose the individual has in view. It is a 
divine law unerring and sure that "he that saves his 
life shall lose it." He that makes self an end puts 
himself in conflict with God, with society and with his 
own being. Selfishness leads to ruin. It is the very 
root of sin. It is the exact opposite of love, which is 
the essence of God. On the other hand: 

2. The doctrine of altruism makes for the highest 
good of the individual and of the race. It operates in 
harmony with the constitution of man individually and of 
the race collectively. "He that loses his life shall save it" 
is a doctrine embodying the profoundest philosophy. It 
is founded on the most radical insight into the nature of 
man. "To give is to save" expresses a radical truth, 
paradoxical as it may appear. He who adopts this prin-' 
ciple as the true philosophy of life shows himself to be 
a consistent child of the heavenly Father, who is the 
bountiful giver of every good and perfect gift and who 

* I am indebted to Dr. Talmage for some thoughts in some 
of these chapters on ''Beginnings." 237 



238 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

teaches us by example and word that "it is more blessed 
to give than to receive.'' The true object of appropri- 
ation is distribution, which in turn leads to fuller 
appropriation. True growth is never realized except 
under the operation of the law of distribution. To with- 
hold is to dwarf the organism and finally to destroy it. 
It is to ignore a basal principle of the universe. We 
w^ould naturally expect a principle so radical, far-reach- 
ing and important to appear in this great book of be- 
ginnings, and we are not disappointed. 

I. We have in the Book of Genesis a history of the 
beginning of altruism. 

1. Here the fact first comes to light that God makes 
one man responsible for the well-being of another, which 
logically leads to the conclusion that the highest good 
of the individual lies in serving his fellows. Surely we 
may conclude that a benevolent Creator would lay no 
obligation on the creature except for the creature's good. 

The doctrine of man's responsibility for his fellow- 
man comes out in the question to Cain, "Where is Abel 
thy brother?" It is a doctrine of deep and far-reaching 
significance. This question implies that man ought to 
know where his brother is. Our duties do not relate to 
self alone. The interest and welfare of others should 
hold a place in our thought. We also learn that injuries 
done to man are noticed in heaven. A man may do his 
work in the dark, slay his victim, rob the widow, slander 
his neighbor, wound his feelings, but God takes an in- 
terest in every man and notices the wrong. Let no man 
conclude that he can injure his fellow-man with im- 
punity ; impartial investigation will be made. ^^len may 
hide their meanness from one another, but not from God. 
God will espouse the cause of the injured. To wrong 



BEGINNING OF ALTRUISM. 239 

man is to raise one's hand against God. Every unjust 
act is an attack on God. So of every unkind word. 
What the wrong-doer needs is eyes to see God standing 
behind the victim of his wrong. 

2. Here is also disclosed man's reluctance to acknowl- 
edge this responsibility. "Am I my brother's keeper?" 
Words how often repeated ! This is very strange. We 
want to be absolved from all duty to others, but we 
would not like to release others from all duty to us. We 
are very dependent on others for all that we need. 
Clothes, food, society, are all essential, and for these 
we must depend on others very largely. Before we deny 
our obligation to others let us ask, Can we absolve others 
from obligation to us? 

3. Let us consider the extent of this obligation. How 
far does the duty of the individual extend? Some one may 
say, "Abel was Cain's brother in the flesh." It is 
wonderful how^ small the soul can get. We are disposed 
to confine our love and sympathy to very narrow circles. 
Let others starve if those of my circle are fed. Let 
others go ignorant if my children are educated. Even 
Christians are sometimes very unchristian. We give to 
our own town, neighborhood, but we have no sense of ob- 
ligation toward the vast wide world. We do not rejoice in 

• the salvation of any except the great or those of our own 
circle. We are all brethren. The man in the gutter, the 
man with black skin, the man in China, is our brother. 
We are all blood relatives. "God has made of one blood 
all nations to dwell on the face of the earth." 

In the second place, we may well consider the extent 
of the demands it makes on the individual. How much 
shall I give? Do I owe every man my all? God has 
given us nothing for self. To withhold means to lose. 
To give all means to save all. The wise man said : 



240 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

''There is that which withholcleth and yet tendeth to pov- 
erty. There is that which scattereth abroad and yet in- 
creaseth." 

4. What shall we say of the baseness of the in- 
dividual who does not recognize this obligation? This 
is selfishness which is of the devil. It is foolish because 
it disregards the means employed by others to become 
great. It assumes that the individual self need pay no 
attention to the rules that obtain w^ith the generality of 
men. The ego is so important, so supreme, that he bears 
no relation to mankind at large. He is a law unto him- 
self. Selfishness is egotism of the worst type. It de- 
stroys the sacredness of the strongest ties, and places the 
individual out of harmony with God's great world. It 
looks upon the virtues of others with an evil and hostile 
eye. It scruples not to injure the innocent. Suffering 
and need appeal to it in vain. Under its blighting in- 
fluence the most beautiful flowers of the human soul 
wither and die. 

5. The evil consequences growing out of the refusal 
to discharge this obligation, are manifest. Such a man 
virtually undertakes to live independent, wdiich is impos- 
sible. Have you thought who the independent man is? 
The savage comes nearest. He can more nearly absolve 
all others from any obligation to him than any other man. 
This idea of independence involves, then, the reducing of 
man to the savage or even the brute state. A brute 
can be more independent than a man. Such a man 
ignores the law of individual growth. He makes his own 
progress impossible by disregarding the necessary con- 
ditions of progress. Nay, more, he insures his own 
decadence and final destruction. 

The suffering that the failure to recognize this obli- 
gation entails is not the least of the evils involved. 



BEGINNING OF ALTBUIS3I. 241 

A man must meet : Condemnation by self — he loathes 
himself. This is suffering that is most extreme. He is 
condemned by men. Unselfishness always wins respect 
and love, while selfishness is always hated and despised. 
This also involves great suffering. He is condemned 
by God. God is love and love is unselfish. God only 
approves the unselfish man. Greatness in God's king- 
dom is determined by unselfishness. ''He that would be 
greatest among you, let him be servant of all." God's 
condemnation involves the deepest suffering of which 
the soul is capable. 

6. The benefits accruing from acknowledgment of 
the obligation and an attempt to discharge the resulting 
duties are also clear. Every man is given a title to the 
wealth of the material universe. There is great variety 
in the resource of different sections of the globe, but 
every man may have all. The very construction of the 
earth seems to recognize this principle. Seas, oceans, 
lakes and rivers seem designed to bring the ends of the 
earth together. The same variety exists in mental en- 
dowment. When this principle is acknowledged, every 
man owns all of the mental world. The same is true in 
spiritual endowment. God never gave you love, sym- 
pathy and feeling to be unused. Holland says : "For a 
great man a thousand minds are thinking and a thousand 
hands are working." That man with a telescope is 
working for me ; the other, with his microscope or 
with his pen, is my servant. All yours is mine on con- 
dition that all mine is yours. 

7. Owing to the great importance and far-reaching 
consequences of the doctrine,, it is important to inquire 
how the obligations growing out of mutual responsibility 
may be best discharged. The question of how is often 



242 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

made much clearer by considering both its negative and 
positive aspects. 

(1) First, then, let us consider how a man may fail 
to meet this obligation. It may be done by an overt act 
of violence. You may rudely strike and wound in the 
most vulgar way, as did Cain. It may be done by neglect. 
Your brother may be hungry, but what is that to you ? 
He may be ignorant, but why should you care? He may 
be sick, but why give yourself any uneasiness on that 
account? All the nobler impulses of the soul cry out 
against such inhuman sentiments. It may be done by a 
failure to develop one's capacity to help. Here so many 
fail. They do not prepare themselves for service. The 
prepared man has always been the man most needed, and 
at no time more than at the present. Finally it may be 
done by the use of unkind, ungenerous words. In this 
way wounds may be inflicted that will never heal. The 
blows that cut the deepest are inflicted by the tongue. 

(2) Let us next consider how a man may best meet 
this obligation. It may be done by protecting his brother 
from evils and dangers ; by warding off the blows that 
would often fall upon him or by taking the obstruction 
out of the way. It may be done by the power of a good 
example. Paul said to Timothy : "Take heed unto thy- 
self and unto the doctrine." Example comes first, and 
it has wonderful power. It may be done by cultivating 
love for man, the true basis of which is love for God. 
Here we reach the highest motive power, but this is 
occasioned by recognizing God's love for man. 

(3) Finally let it be observed that this obligation can 
be discharged in the most effective way only by a 
properly qualified man. 

First and chief among the qualifications of a true 
servant is preparation involving his subjective status. 



BEGINNING OF ALTRUISM. 245 

This takes into account the possessions of the man, in- 
ternal and external. It takes into account what he is 
and what he has. The former relates to his disposition 
and feeling, the latter to his ability to give practical ex- 
pression to his inward principles and desires. The true 
servant of men is God's man, and God's man is always 
a large-souled, well-developed man. Here incidentally 
comes to view the real purpose of education. It is not for 
the sake of self. It is not a commercial asset, it is not an 
individual possession. It is for the world's sake. 

The truth is clearly indicated in the order of God's 
questions as thus far propounded. His first question, 
was: "Where art thou?" Man's first duty is to self. 
''Where am I ?" is the first great question that I am called 
upon to meet. This question must be met and answered 
before any other question can properly come. Until I 
find my proper place I am not ready to consider any 
other question. The second question was : "Where is thy 
brother?" This is the next question in order of im- 
portance. No man can answer this question till he has 
answered the first. No man will avoid this question 
who has truly answered the first. 

The truth is also clearly established by universal ex- 
perience. The great helpers of men have been men of 
large attainments in piety, devotion and knowledge. 
They have been men who have found themselves. They 
have come to know who they are, what they are and 
where they are. They have come into an understanding 
of the real wants of mankind and of their own ability 
to provide for those wants. Having heard God's first 
quesion, they have put themselves into right relations 
with him and the world, and have thus prepared them- 
selves for a proper answer to the second great question^ 
"Where is thy brother?" 



244 THE WORD OF TRUTH, 

II. The Book of Genesis also reveals the beginning 
of redemption. 

The beautiful picture of man in pristine purity has 
been displaced ^y a very dark one. Man, the highest 
product of the divine workmanship, has been vanquished 
by the enemy of all righteousness. He has been tested 
and found wanting. Having forfeited his rich inherit- 
ance, he has been banished from his Edenic home. Sin 
is yielding its bitter fruits in envy, hatred and violence. 
The hand of God lies heavy upon him in punishment. 
Henceforth the lot of man is to be one of suffering. 
Sorrow is now his portion. His heritage is a heritage of 
tears. But this dark picture is to give place to the bright 
picture of redemption. Satan's apparent triumph is not 
to be a final victory. The dark cloud enveloping man is 
rifted by faint glimmerings of light giving promise of a 
brighter day. The case is not altogether hopeless, for in 
connection with the account of man's overthrow the 
doctrine of redemption appeared. Let us thankfully 
study this wonderful teaching that here begins to appear 
which is so full of hope and promise. 

1. We have in the Book of Genesis the beginning 
■of redemption as shown in God's great purpose. 

(1) The purpose of God is the logical beginning- 
place for the study of redemption. No work can be 
understood when separated from the purpose of the 
author or worker. In a great factory a thousand per- 
sons may each be doing a different thing, which, viewed 
separately, may seem to be an inexplicable or useless 
thing, but one single, dominant purpose may serve to 
bring order out of apparent chaos and show the work of 
each to be an essential part of a complicated whole. 

No Avord or act can be fully understood when dis- 
sociated from the thought of speaker or actor. Great 



BEGINNING OF REDEMPTION. 245 

injustice is sometimes done in this way. The purpose of 
God serves to logically connect and explain the multi- 
tude of subsequent acts and actors in the working out 
of God's great plan of redemption. No single act in this 
great development can be understood when dissociated 
from its purpose or dragged from the place it logically 
holds. The same is true of the various actors in the 
wonderful drama. This principle must be observed in 
order to an intelligent understanding of the Bible. It 
furnishes a complete answer to very many of the objec- 
tions urged by infidels against the Book of books. 

(2) Paul lays much stress on this great purpose of 
God. Eph. 3:8-11: ''Unto me, who am less than the 
least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should 
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of 
Christ ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship 
of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world 
hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus 
Christ : to the intent that now unto the principalities and 
powers in heavenly places might be known by the church 
the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal 
purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." 
2 Tim. 1:9: "Who hath saved us, and called us 
with an holy calling, not according to our works, but 
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given 
us in Christ Jesus before the world began." 

Several important truths come out of this. It is de- 
clared that this purpose existed before the world began, 
or prior to man's sin; that it was one of grace and wis- 
dom, involving the question of redemption ; that it rested 
In God's benevolence or philanthropy and not In the fact 
of human works or merit, and that It was secured 
through Christ Jesus the Lord. 

(3) This great purpose was realized through a grad- 



246 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

uai method of unfolding. The patriarchal dispensation 
is the first step in the majestic progress. In this God 
meets man's threefold need of instruction, atonement and 
government through the patriarch or great head of the 
family, who was teacher, priest and ruler. The ^losaic 
dispensation is the second stage of the development in. 
which God meets this threefold need in his elect nation 
by creating an office for each function. 

In these dispensations human conduct is regulated 
by outward restraint or law. The final realization of 
God's purpose of grace is attained in Jesus Christ, who 
is Prophet, Priest and King of all who will accept him 
as such. 

2. We have in the Book of Genesis the beginning of 
redemption as shown in verbal promise. Gen. 3: 15: "I 
will put enmity between thee and the woman, and be- 
tween thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, 
and thou shalt bruise his heel." 

(1) Redemption in verbal promise is the first point 
at which God's great plan of salvation becomes known 
to humanity. The purpose resides wholly in God. In the 
forming of this we had no part. It originated with God. 
We can in nowise change it, but we learn God's pur- 
pose when it is embodied in promise. Here it touches 
the human level. Here we approach the point of practi- 
cal moment to man. The father makes his child a 
promise, suspending it probably on the performance of 
certain reasonable and plain conditions. It may be help- 
ful to understand the purpose, but the point of deepest 
interest and importance consists in the child under- 
standing and performing the conditions on which the 
blessings of the promise are suspended. 

(2) This promise reveals the fact that even God's 
penalties proceed out of, and are lost in, the divine mercy. 



BEGINNING OF REDEMPTION. 247 

''Cursed by the ground for thy sake.'' Hard labor is a 
blessing. ]\Ian in the tropics, where he is relieved from 
labor, tends to the savage state. However it might 
have been had man not sinned, having sinned, the curse 
proceeds from mercy and is lost in mercy. Many a 
man is made by the very hardness of his task. Do not 
shrink from labor. Do not complain because you have 
to toil. We put hard labor on the criminal as a penalty. 
It is, however, more of a mercy than a penalty. This 
stands here primarily as a curse, but who shall say it 
was not rather a blessing than curse? Labor existed be-- 
fore the fall ; hard or excessive labor came as the result or 
penalty of the fall. Great lessons take their rise in this : 
Leisure is safe in proportion to a man's moral purity. 
Labor is a great restraint on sin. Idleness and sinfulness 
are boon companions. After man had fallen his labor 
must be increased. Was not this a mercy? 

There was no hope in Satan's curse. A bruised head 
means final disaster and overthrow. To be bitten in the 
heel is bad, but, after all, may not good come of it? May 
he not learn to hate the enemy? 'Thou shalt bruise his 
heel," then he will learn to hate you and will bruise your 
head. This means conflict, war and final triumph of 
truth. Suppose the biting had not been decreed ; then it- 
would have meant ruin indeed. Intemperance, and no 
sting! murder, and no remorse! Woe to the world if 
this were so. 

"It shall bruise thy head." Here is the beginning of 
hope for man. Night had fallen on the world of human- 
ity, yet it had at least one star. This star of hope never 
ceased to shine until another star stood over the manger 
at Bethlehem where the infant lay who came to inflict 
the mortal wound upon the head of the great dragon 
of sin. 



248 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

There is still another sign of hope remaining. Man 
is driven out, and a flaming sword and cherubim are set 
to guard the gate of entrance into this paradise of peace, 
yet the tree remains ; it was not destroyed. Does this 
mean that man shall sometime eat. Does it mean that 
the work of the flaming sword and cherubim was only 
for a time ? Does it mean that on some bright day one 
who is gentle and tender will lead us back and pluck 
the ambrosial fruit that we may eat and live forever? 
It is a mercy that man was not sent out till he could 
carry some pledge of hope and comfort. 

(3) This promise indicates conflict between two per- 
sons. 'T will put enmity between thee and the woman, 
and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy 
head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Primarily this 
"seed" of the woman doubtless refers to Christ. The 
word occurs in the promise made to Abraham. *Tn thy 
seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Paul 
says the word ''seed" refers not to many, but to one, 
which is Christ. It would seem, therefore, that this first 
promise refers to Christ and his triumph over Satan. 
The history of Christ's life shows a complete fulfillment 
of this promise. He began his public life by a contest 
with Satan, and his whole life was a war with the arch- 
fiend until the final and complete victory achieved by the 
resurrection from the dead. 

(4) This promise in a secondary sense points to a 
general conflict between two opposing progenies. Satan 
has a progeny, a party animated by his spirit. Hence 
Christ said: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the 
works of your father ye will do." Christ, the. deliverer, 
has a progeny. "Born again, not of corruptible seed, 
but of incorruptible, by the word of God that liveth and 
abideth forever." Between these progenies there is con- 



BEGINNING OF REDEMPTION. 249 

flict. 'Tor we wrestle not against flesh and blood." "I 
came not to send peace, but a sword." This enmity 
underlies the conflict of the ages. Christ and his seed 
must and will ever be in conflict with Satan and his seed 
until righteousness prevail. 

(5) This promise contains the germs of all history. 
In this lie the secrets of human joy and human sorrow. 
Human joy is the triumph of righteousness. Human 
sorrow is the triumph of unrighteousness. As to which 
a man shall have, depends on which principle gains the 
mastery in him. 

In the light of this promise we can understand the 
meaning of moral, social and political strife. Herein is 
wrapped up the assurance of the triumph of holiness, 
the certainty of victory, when the head of the old ser- 
pent shall be bruised and evil shall be prostrate in the 
dust. The serpent's bite and the bruising of his head 
constitute the conflicts and victories that go to make up 
human history. 

(6) This promise reveals the real nature of evil. 
His character is shown : It has a head ; it is not a vapory, 
airy nothing. It has intelligence: "The serpent was 
more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord 
God had made." Let no one suppose that evil lacks 
cunning or smartness. Plan's enemy is by no means a 
weak one. 

Its method is declared. It bites the heel. It ap- 
proaches from behind. It strikes in the dark. It is cun- 
ning, underhanded, cowardly. Falsehood, deception and 
prejudice are its instruments of warfare. Truth can 
never have a fair field and a free fight. 

(7) This promise furnishes a test by which you may 
try yourself and ascertain your real condition. Is the 
head of evil bruised in you? If not, all is vain. An 



250 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

erroneous notion may be cured, a wrong habit changed; 
but is the desire left unchanged? If your cure has not 
been radical, it is no cure at all. 

Christianity has no mild remedy to propose. It is 
heroic in its treatment. It does not come with a little 
court plaster to cure a pimple, as Talmage put it, but it 
comes with a club to kill the serpent. It offers no com- 
promise ; it consents to no armistice ; Christ says : "He 
that is not for me is against me." 

(8) This promise furnishes us a guide in warring 
against wrong. We must direct our efforts against the 
spirit of wrong rather than against forms of evil. The 
serpent's head lies in the human heart. You may cure 
an idea or habit to little purpose. What we need to get 
at are the moral sympathies and antipathies of the soul. 

Herein is the difference, largely, between Judaism 
and Christianity. Judaism aimed at actions, Christianity 
aims at the heart. Christ says he that hates is a murderer. 
The old law was engraven on stone, the new law is written 
on the fleshly tables of the heart. 

(9) This promise is an assurance of the sovereignty 
of God. Satan plans man's destruction, but God plans 
his salvation, and God's plan will succeed. Sin came in 
upon Eden, but redemption came also. Satan may be 
wise, but God is wiser. Satan is strong, but God is 
stronger. Satan may triumph temporarily, but God will 
triumph finally. 

The success of Christianity and her final goal is in 
harmony with this promise. It has been beautifully 
said: "Guided by the star of Bethlehem, led by the liv- 
ing Christ, illuminated by the lives of saints, consecrated 
by the blood of martyrs, cheered by the ministry of 
angels, her course has been a march of triumph, her 
goal is one of victory:" 



BEGINNING OF REDE3IPTI0N. 251 

3. In the Book of Genesis is seen the beginning of 
redemption as shown in symbol. 

Gen. 4 : 3-8 : ''And in process of time it came to pass, 
that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an ofifering 
unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the 
firstlings, of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the 
Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering; but 
unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And 
Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the 
Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is 
thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou 
not be accepted ? and if thou doest not well, sin croucheth 
at the door: and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou 
shalt rule over him. And Cain told Abel his brother. 
And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that 
Cain arose up. against Abel his brother, and slew him." 

(1) The preaching of the gospel is almost as old as 
man. Paul says the gospel was preached to Abraham. 
This was a gospel in promise, but this was not the first 
time the gospel was thus preached. It w^as preached to 
Eve in verbal promise, as w^e have seen. The second 
..gospel sermon was preached in significant symbol. The 
smoking altar is almost as old as the race, because sin 
is almost coeval with man. Every blood-offering is a 
homily on sin and a hint or promise of salvation. The 
•gospel is God's answ-er to the want or craving super- 
induced b.y sin. It is glad tidings, because it is hope for 
despair, because it is life for death. Without the gospel 
man is shut up in a dungeon of despondency. 

(2) The gospel in symbol is as certain and unmis- 
takable as is the express verbal declaration of Holy Writ. 
God's promise in word is no surer than his promise in 
symbol. In nature this truth is amply illustrated. The 
^gg is a promise of the bird, the seed of the plant, the boy 



252 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

of the man. The bleeding animal is an eloquent prophecy 
of the bleeding Christ. It is also an impressive declara- 
tion of the fact that life is forfeited by sin. Prophecy 
in symbol is an illustration of God's twofold method 
of teaching; word-lesson and object-lesson. God never 
rests the case upon the simple verbal statement of truth. 
It is promise in word, then in symbol. It is eloquent 
word and still more eloquent practice. He tells us what 
to do and then shows how to do it. Herein lies the 
immeasurable superiority of Christianity over all philo- 
sophical systems. Philosophy is a doctrine ; Christianity 
is a life as the outgrowth of a doctrine. Philosophy 
divorces theory and practice ; Christianity marries theory 
and practice. Philosophy says hear and understand; 
Christianity says hear and do. In order to accomplish 
this result, Christianity seeks to arouse and enlist the 
affections that the necessary impulse to action may be 
begotten. 

(3) This history leads us to the conclusion that 
sacrifice is not a human invention. The divine origin of 
sacrifice is supported by abundant proof. It is ante- 
cedently probable that God would instruct man as to 
what would constitute acceptable worship. Worship is 
instinctive. It finds its basis in man's nature. Its 
universality is a proof of the inherent necessity. All 
men worship. Even those who ridicule the idea of 
worship are themselves worshipers. !Man will either 
worship the God of revelation or create his own god. 
It is highly improbable that God would disregard a 
universal impulse. God always meets the wants that he 
creates, or, in other words, that are native to man. Eyes 
are met by light and an external world, ears by sound, 
lungs by air, hunger by food, thirst by water, the social 
instinct by companionship, the religious instinct by God. 



BEGINNING OF REDEMPTION. 25a 

It is the logical sequence of the hope inspired by 
verbal promise. God never awakens hope simply to 
allow it to perish. Not only does God try to beget hope 
in the soul, but he tries to keep it alive in every possible 
way. Hope never dies by God's fault. To man in his 
present environment hope is a great necessity. In the 
New Testament hope is called the ''anchor of the soul." 
Without hope the soul drifts like a vessel without an 
anchor. There is no picture more sad than that of man 
without hope. The hearth with its dead ashes, left after 
the guests of light and love have gone, is a fit emblem of 
the heart bereft of hope. 

It is the conclusion growing out of the fact that care 
for the less implies care for the greater. God cared for 
man's physical wants. Food and clothing were pro- 
vided. May we not reasonably expect that God will 
care for the real man that dwells in the tenement called 
the body? To doubt this is to disbelieve in God. To 
doubt this is to disbelieve in the real greatness of man. 

Man left to himself could scarcely have invented such 
a system so early in his history. Here we find the first 
family coming before God in a settled order of worship. 
This fact can only be explained on the hypothesis that 
God had appointed it. Time is an important factor in a 
natural spontaneous development. Man with a religious 
nature would doubtless have developed a religion in time, 
but here the time element seems to have been largely 
lacking. Does not this fact point to the divine origin of 
sacrifice ? 

Of all conceivable methods of worship, that of shed- 
ding the blood of an animal is the least likely to have 
originated in the human mind. Rejecting the much 
more natural method of approach by bringing fruit 



254 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

and flowers, man slays an animal. Did this originate 
in the mind of man? 

Such worship has no significance only as it is 
symbolical. Sacrifice is not merely a gift. It is that 
and much more. Christ's sufferings give sacrifice its 
meaning. Adam could know nothing of this. God 
alone could know, and hence arrange a suitable symbol. 
Divine acceptance points to a divine appoint- 
ment. How else can God's discrimination be ex- 
plained? How else can we avoid impeaching divine 
justice? Abel's offering was one of faith. He re- 
ceived the testimony that he was righteous. His 
act was called right. Nothing can make a positive 
act right but the law of the rightful sovereign. Paul 
says : "By faith Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice 
than Cain." He offered it in a believing, trusting 
spirit. Hence he had testimony. Faith in a positive 
act must be based on testimony. 

(4) The peculiarities of Cain's religion are shown 
by his offering. It was a religion that had some good 
in it. It acknowledged the existence of a Divine 
Providence. It acknowledged human obligation. Cain 
brought a gratitude-offering. There is no religion, 
however false, but that has some good. Skeptics point 
out the good in Buddhism, ^lohammedism and other 
religions, ^^'ere there no good in them they could 
not exist for a day. 

It was a religion of expediency. It was assumed 
largely, no doubt, for appearance's sake. There are 
many such persons even now. ]\Iany subordinate 
their religion to their own convenience or to purely 
selfish interests. If God made the soul, he can best 
provide for its wants. It is best to accept God's 
religion, which is adapted by the Creator to the 



BEGINNING OF REDEMPTION, 255 

creature, and consequently perfectly suited to his needs 
and requirements. 

It was a religion abounding in self-righteousness. 
It ignored the very existence of sin. It recognized 
no breach between man and God. Some hold these 
same views yet. Atheistic evolution is only Cain's 
religion in modern dress. 

It was a persecuting religion, which is true of all 
human religions. It could tolerate no views but its 
own, and hence soon stained its hands with blood. 
The divine religion is meek and forbearing; that of 
man, vindictive and bloody. The more heavenly a 
religion is, the more charitable it is. The human is 
always narrow. The divine is generous. 

It was an envious religion. Abel's sacrifice being 
accepted filled Cain with bitter envy. It is the same 
spirit that prompted Satan to tempt man to fall. 
Abel's acceptance did not hinder Cain from receiving 
a blessing. Had his religion been good he would have 
rejoiced to see Abel accepted. Sometimes churches 
professing the religion of Christ manifest the same 
spirit. It is all from the devil, even though seen in 
churches professing the religion of Christ. Never try 
to rise by pulling down some other person. 

(5) The characteristics of Abel's religion are 
shown by his offering. 

It embodied all the good there was in that of Cain. 
Some contend that the passage should read : "Abel 
brought it also and of the firstlings of his flock." Ac- 
cording to this rendering, it would appear that Abel 
brought the gratitude-ofifering, and the sin-oiTering in 
addition. Thus it would appear that the great ele- 
ments of true religion are here disclosed ; namely, 
adoration, consciousness of sin and a consequent plea 



256 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

for mercy and an expression of gratitude to the Giver 
of all good. This meant that sin deserved death. 
There was no self-righteousness in this: It said: 
*T am a sinner." Here all true religion begins. 

It was a religion actuated by faith ; it trusted God's 
mercy, confided in his wisdom and relied on his power. 
Abel is thus placed at the head of the very household 
of faith. 

It was a germinal religion. It looked forward to 
a better and fuller system. Christ was in Abel's re- 
ligion like the tree lies in the acorn; like the harvest 
in the kernel of wheat. Abel may not have seen this : 
we see it because we have seen the tree that has come 
from the acorn, yet Abel did his act in faith, and hence 
deserves the blessing. 

It was a religion approved of God. "He obtained 
witness that he was righteous, God testifying to his 
gifts." Divine approval is the highest of all good. 
Many care more for human approval, but if God ap- 
proves, it matters not what man may say. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Beginnings as Revealed in Genesis — The 
Beginning of Religion and of Judgment. 

1. He who writes the history of reUgion writes 
the history of the race. ReHgion is one of the most 
universal facts of life. The religious principle may 
safely be regarded as a native instinct or propensity, 
and as such it demands satisfaction. We may there- 
fore reasonably expect to see manifestations of this 
propensity all along the line of human history in 
efforts made for its gratification. We may also expect 
that the Creator would provide for this constitutional 
factor of the human soul. 

2. We therefore find that the history of religion 
divides itself into two parts : First, natural religion, 
by which I mean the efforts made by man to gratify, 
and give expression to, his religious propensity ; and, 
second, the authoritative revelation of a religion de- 
signed by the Creator for his creature man. We would 
also expect this natural religion in some degree, 
however imperfect, to answer to this propensity, while 
we would certainly expect the revealed religion to 
meet the demand in a most perfect way. 

In harmony with a reasonable expectatioir': 

I. We have in the Book of Genesis a history of 
the beginning of natural religion. 

And in process of time it came to pass that "Cain 
brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the 

257 



258 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

Lord. ... If thou doest well, shalt not thou be 
accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin croucheth at 
the door" (Gen. 4: 3-7). 

1. The principle of natural religion is intrinsically 
good when applied under proper conditions. It con- 
sists in doing well : practical goodness is the idea in- 
volved. This is the noblest principle in the universe : 
for this was man created. Every function of mind 
and body was designed to secure this result. The 
individual that does well both pleases and glorifies 
God, just as the machine that does its work well both 
pleases and glorifies its maker. But man can glorify 
his Creator in a much higher way, because he acts 
from choice and volition. He does not act under 
necessity, but in the freedom of his will he moves in 
harmony with the will of God. 

In this we have a practical hint ; man glorifies God 
in what he does. To do well is to reflect credit upon 
the Creator. 

2. It is a principle which calls for highest approval. 
If all did well, this world would be immensely changed. 
No police nor soldiers, no prisons nor houses of reform, 
no oppression nor injustice, no lying nor slander, no 
fraud nor deceit, no theft nor violence, no drunkenness 
nor murder, no wars nor conflicts. If all did well, 
this world would be "paradise regained." Many good 
principles are objected to for practical reasons. They 
may interfere with interests, personal or otherwise. 
They may interfere with cherished institutions. 
Reformations have thus been retarded, but to this 
principle no one can object: God would smile upon it, 
angels would applaud it, and the world would ring 
with its praises. 



BEGINNING OF NATURAL RELIGION. 259 

3. It is a principle of rigid and exacting require- 
ments. Every requirement of the moral law must be 
fulfilled. There must be no transgression, but, on the 
contrary, full obedience. There must be no rebellion, 
but complete service. One must not only not hate 
one's neighbor, but love him. Perfect compliance de- 
mands : that the act be perfect; that the motive be 
good — there are many seeming acts of benevolence ; 
that the rule be good — the good thing done as God 
directs. Conduct must conform to God's will without 
the slightest variation, that the whole life be good — • 
not one single deviation. 

4. Obedience to this principle is attended with 
most gracious rewards. "Shall not thou be accepted?" 
It secures God's approval, which is the highest of all 
motives. It secures one's own approval, which is a 
condition of peace. It secures the approval of all good 
people, which is a source of deep satisfaction. 

It secures immortality, which is the highest reward. 
Sin entered the world and death by sin. To avoid 
the sin is to escape death. 

Let us new inquire who are the real subjects of 
this religion, manifestly first of all : 

Angels : they do well, sin not. Next, man in his 
unfallen state — Adam and Eve before they fell, but 
certainly not sinful man. Cain in a fallen state tried 
the religion of unfallen beings, and in this he failed. 
As a sinner he made no recognition of sin. There was 
no blood sacrifice. 

Fallen man is not a subject of this religion. If you 
doubt this, examine yourself : Have you obeyed every 
precept? Do you plead guilty or not? If you are 
guilty, Cain's religion is not for you. 

Let us consider sin : it means to miss the mark. 



260 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

As to its nature : It is an infraction of the best 
laws; it is rebellion against the King; it is ingratitude 
to the noblest friend; opposition to the tenderest 
father ; it is insult to divine authority. As to its effects : 
It has wounded the affection and grieved the heart 
of God. It has alienated the heart from the true 
object of affection. It has perverted the judgment, 
clouded the reason, arrayed man against man, filled 
the soul with a sense of guilt, shame and dreadful 
forebodings. As to its consequences : The etf ects 
here are awful, but more terrible are the consequences 
to follow. The forebodings of conscience are the 
prophecies of the future, the mutterings of the ap- 
proaching storm. The worm, quenchless fire, bottom- 
less pit and burning lake are but faint images of the 
condition of the sin-destroyed soul. 

5. Natural religion offers no way of escape. It 
has no remedy. If repentance be suggested, I answer 
repentance can not undo wrong and replace things as 
they were. Tears and groans can not honor a violated 
law, nor can change of purpose make good the wrong done. 
If reformation be suggested, I answer : reformation 
can not alter the past. To incur no new debt will 
not pay off the old. Listen to Mic. 6:6: "Wherewith 
shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before 
the high God? shall I come before him with burnt 
offerings, with calves of a year old? ^^'ill the Lord be 
pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand 
rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my trans- 
gressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" 
Listen to the answer: "Lebanon is not sufficient to 
burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt 
offering." 

If mercy be suggested, I answer: God is infinite in 



BEGINNING OF NATURAL RELIGION. 261 

mercy, but mercy and justice must somewhere 
meet. Order must not be jeopardized. God must 
respect his own law, and so mercy must find a way 
that will not sanction sin or countenance rebellion. 
What can be done? Here natural religion leaves man 
in midnight gloom : she has no scheme of redemption 
to propose. ''The deep saith, It is not in me; and the 
sea saith, It is not in me." All creation echoes the 
despairing cry, "It is not in me." Wisdom can not 
discover it, gold can not buy it, and nature knows not 
the price thereof. Just here, when hope seems dead, 
a remedy is offered ; just here help comes to the sink- 
ing heart of shipwrecked humanity in the form of a 
religion divinely chosen to meet the dire necessity. 

II. We have in the Book of Genesis the beginning 
of revealed religion. 

"If thou doest not well, a sin offering reposes at 
the door." 

1. Revealed religion assumes that men are guilty, 
as was stated in a previous chapter; the Bible nowhere 
tries to prove this. It is unnecessary : we never try to 
prove the self-confessed murderer guilty. Christ said : 
"I came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to re- 
pentance." "There is none righteous, no, not one." 
This statement is indisputable. That men are liable to 
punishment Is a necessary corollary of this. In fact, 
sentence has already been passed. What man needs 
is commutation of sentence, and revealed religion 
shows how this may be obtained. 

2. It has provided a sin-offering: man is not left 
to his own resources. The Jews had three kinds of 
offerings : Peace-offering, a recognition of friendship ; 
<?ucharistic or gratitude offering, and piacular or aton- 



262 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

ing offerings, which were most important of all. The 
nature of this sin-offering is shown : *'And Aaron shall 
bring the bullock of the sin offering, and shall make an 
atonement; for it is the blood that maketh atonement 
of the soul." This is the kind of offering mentioned 
here. It involved the idea of substitution. This doc- 
trine has been ridiculed, yet it is often acted upon in 
practical life. One man becomes a substitute for an- 
other in the army. Parent substitutes his own labor 
for that of the child. Every mouthful the child eats 
preaches the doctrine of substitution. Leonidas and 
his Spartans became substitutes. The King of the 
Locrians gave an eye for that of his son. There was 
substitution of person ; Christ took our place ; God 
spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for man. 
"The Son of man came to give his life a ransom for 
many." ''God sent his Son ... to redeem them 
that were under the law." There was substitution of 
guilt : the scapegoat was a type of Christ bearing our 
sin. "He bore in his own body our sins upon the tree." 
There was substitution of suffering; the innocent vic- 
tim was slain for the guilty. "Christ died for the 
ungodly," suffered for us," "was made a curse for us." 
This also explains why God withdrew his presence 
from Christ on the cross. Sin separates between man 
and God, and hence, when our sins were laid on Christ, 
a separation between him and God took place. The 
acceptance of the sin-offering was accompanied by 
divine evidence. It was so in the case of Aaron and 
Moses when they presented the offering for the people. 
This acceptance signified that the people should live. 
So, too, Calvary's sacrifice has been accepted; the 
descent of the Spirit signified the acceptance of Christ's 
sacrifice. The sacrifice being accepted, the sinner is 



BEGINNING OF REVEALED RELIGION. 263 

treated as if he himself had suffered. For thousands 
of years the law cried : ''Without the shedding of 
blood there is no remission." Christ's blood alone 
satisfied the demand. Now the sinner is treated as 
if he were innocent. This transfer of benefit is com- 
mon ; one man is received for the sake of another. The 
Prince intercedes for the rebellious subject. It should 
be borne in mind that the animal sacrifices under the 
Mosaic dispensation did not take away sin. They were 
symbolic. They pointed forward to the sacrifice of 
Christ, which alone was efficacious. Under Moses 
there was remembrance of sin every year. Sin was 
rolled forward a year at a time till Christ could come 
and die for the sins of the world. 

3. This sin-offering reposeth at the door: "Sin 
lieth at the door," or, as it has been translated, "A 
sin-offering reposeth at the door." This implies that 
Christ's atonement is accessible to the sinner. Cain 
had only to cross the threshold to get the divinely 
provided lamb. This points to the fact that every 
encouragement is given to man to avail himself of 
Christ's sacrifice. Christ is neither too high nor too low, 
but within the reach of all. It implies that it rests with 
man to avail himself of this sacrifice. The offering was at 
Cain's door, but he must take it. So, also, of the atone- 
ment : it must be used to be efficacious. Providence sends 
the breeze ; the sailor must spread the sails. God gives 
fruit, harvest, raiment, but man must take or perish. 
No man can make atonement, but he can accept that 
which is made. It implies that men neglect the atone- 
ment. How long the beast had lain there we know 
not, but Cain had neglected it. That men neglect 
Christ's atonement is one of the strangest and most 
awful facts of history. In view of this, the prophet 



264 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

said: "He is despised and rejected of men." Jesus 
said : "All day long have I stretched forth my hands." 
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock." It implies 
that God is very patient. "Reposeth at the door." 
Before the doors of some, the offering has lain for 
years. But it has been despised. This sacrifice has 
lain at the door of your heart since you knew right 
from wrong. It implies that man can not be lost 
without trampling this sacrifice under foot. God has 
thrown an obstruction in the road to ruin. Jesus has 
flung himself across the path to destruction. He says, 
before you are lost you must trample on me. It im- 
plies that those w^ho are lost are without excusie. 
Salvation was within reach, yet he despised it. The 
man who goes to ruin does so with the offer of pardon 
ringing in his ears. Opportunity was his. The atone- 
ment was perfect. The ability was his. He must 
say, I stood at the door of mercy and refused to enter. 
I stood by the fountain and refused to drink. I have 
despised the offering. A\'ell may such an one call on 
the rocks and mountains to fall on him and hide him 
from the presence of the Lord. 

III. We have in the Book of Genesis the beginning 
of iudgment. 

The first great judgment inflicted upon the race 
is recorded in the history of the flood, in which the 
entire human family perished except the family of 
Noah, consisting of eight persons. This would seem 
to be a terrible outcome considering man's promising 
beginning. A better beginning or a more woful end- 
ing can not well be imagined. We may, however, 
draw some valuable lessons from the sad fate of the 
antediluvian world. 



BEGINNING OF JUDGMENT. 265 

1. The Bible records briefly trace two lines of 
Adam's descendants in which opposite characteristics 
are displayed: 

(1) One line, descended from Seth through Enoch 
to Noah, was distinguished during a long period for 
piety and righteousness. The knowledge of the true 
God was preserved and a true religion maintained at 
least in one family of the line. In consequence of this, 
these descendants of Adam are called in the sacred 
record, "sons of God." This term is elsewhere applied 
in the Scriptures to godly men, and it is entirely ap- 
propriate. Those who in character and conduct show 
themselves to be worthy of their high origin may 
with propriety be called ''sons of God." 

(2) Another line, descended from Cain, was distin- 
guished for impiety and constantly increasing god- 
lessness and corruption. These are not dignified by a 
name suggesting divine origin, but are called simply 
men. Their daughters are called "daughters of men." 
This name, used in contrast with the phrase "sons of 
God," indicates their carnal proclivities. This line 
seems also to have been characterized by ingenuity,, 
as it is credited with the invention of musical instru- 
ments and brass and iron implements. They were 
doubtless an active, intellectual people that excelled in 
art, music, and worldly accomplishments in general, 
but were destitute of the higher graces of goodness, 
mercy, purity, and the love of God out of which these 
graces spring. Such examples are not infrequent 
either in the history of individuals or nations. Often 
great intellectuality and the deepest moral degradation 
have been found associated in the same persons or 
people. Lord Bacon may be cited as an example of the 
former and the Grecian nation of the latter. 



266 " THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

Here we see two streams flowing from the same 
fountain — one bitter and the other sweet. This ac- 
count might seem unnatural did we not see the same 
thing repeated before our eyes continually. How 
often two brothers, two sisters, children of the same 
parents, reared under the same influences, display exactly 
opposite characteristics and reach opposite destinies. 

2. The brief Bible account of these two lines of 
Adam's descendants reveals the potent cause of the 
destruction of the antediluvian world. 

(1) There is a point in wickedness beyond which 
man can not go without involving himself in complete 
ruin and the forfeiting of divine favor. ''^ly Spirit 
shall not strive with man for ever." This has often 
been illustrated in the history of nations. Sin has 
generally been the cause of national overthrow. God 
has shown himself to be longsuffering and patient. 
He permits nations to go to great lengths in sin and 
corruption, not, however, without sounding many 
warnings, but there is a point beyond which no nation 
can go without involving itself in ruin. AMien that 
limit is reached, the destruction is sure and swift. 

If human wickedness brings national disaster and 
ruin, it is also true that righteousness is the saving 
principle. Righteous men are the salt that saves the 
nation. This is universally true. In family, social and 
political life, righteousness saves and sin destroys. 
Often the righteous element that saves is very small. 
God offered to spare Sodom if ten righteous persons 
could be found. He spared the antediluvian world 
until but one righteous family was left. But, however 
long judgment may be delayed, the limit to which 
wickedness may go is finally reached, and then the 
thunderbolt of God's wrath descends. God savs, bet- 



BEGINNING OF JUDGMENT. 267 

ter not live than to live in such a state. It is more 
merciful to^ destroy than to preserve when righteous- 
ness has entirely departed. 

(2) The cause of the general apostasy of the right- 
eous line of Adam's descendants is clear from the 
Bible record. *'And it came to pass when men began 
to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters 
were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the 
daughters of men that they were fair; and they took 
them wives of all that they chose." As the race 
multiplied, the families of Cain and Seth came into 
close proximity, and as a result there was intermar- 
riage. The daughters of the Cainites, distinguished for 
beauty, and for culture in music and arts, won the 
hearts of the sons of God, or the Sethites. "They 
took them wives of all that they chose." Their choice 
was based on beauty and outward graces and adorn- 
ment rather than on the graces of the heart. The 
flesh triumphed over the spirit, and ruin followed 
swift and sure. Family life degenerated when the 
motherhood became corrupt. This social fall was 
analogous to the first or individual fall. Eve saw the 
fruit of the tree "that it was pleasant to the eye," 
and she partook. "The sons of God saw the daughters 
of men that they were fair." In both cases sense 
triumphed over reason. In both cases the ruin was 
wrought by the agency of woman. 

(3) These Scriptural facts reveal the marvelous 
power of woman. Man has never been able to sustain 
himself morally, independent of woman. In the begin- 
ning when woman fell man fell. Later on in the 
history, when the sons of God undertook to establish 
families by marrying corrupt women, all were involved 
in ruin together. So it has ever been. It is, however, 



268 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

very encouraging to know that woman's elevating 
power is no less than her power to drag down. "A 
good wife is from the Lord," and a virtuous woman- 
hood is the corner-stone of social purity. No society 
can long withstand the debasing influence of corrupt 
womanhood nor the elevating tendencies of virtuous 
womanhood. It also stands to the honor of woman 
that although capable of great debasement, she is also 
susceptible of the highest intellectual, moral and spirit- 
ual elevation. The necessary corollary growing out 
of this is, that the elevating of woman is the surest 
and speediest way to moral reforms. 

(4) In the history here given, the real unit of 
national life is clearly seen. The family is shown to be 
the true national unit. A nation can be built up only 
by adding family to family. This truth cuts the ground 
from under socialistic schemes and theories that dis- 
regard the sanctity of the marriage relation. It fol- 
lows that the surest way to destroy the nation is to 
corrupt the family, and that the most effective way to 
strengthen the nation is to elevate the family. It also 
follows that whatever inflicts injury on the family is a 
national sin. Two such sins are conspicuous in our 
national life at the present time: The liquor traffic — 
there is no business so unpatriotic as this ; and loose 
divorce laws. Here, again, the wonderful power of 
woman is supreme : she is queen of the home. Most per- 
sons 01^ far more to their mothers than they do to their 
fathers. The father may be taken away and the home 
be still maintained, but when mother is gone the family 
must be broken up or another mother provided. How 
true the sentiment, "What is home without a mother?" 
These facts reveal to woman her first and highest duty. 
There is no call that comes to the mother that is so 



BEGINNING OF JUDGMENT. 269 

loud as the call of duty to her own family. She who 
neglects her own home or her own children for the 
sake of social life or of charity is actuated by mistaken 
ideas of woman's sphere. She is sacrificing the 
greater for the less. This does not mean that a woman 
can do nothing for the world outside of her own fam- 
ily, but it does mean that a woman with a family may 
by mistaken notions of philanthropy lose her greatest 
opportunity for good. 

3. God's agency of reform has been the same 
under all dispensations. 

(1) The primary agent of reform is the Spirit of 
God. "My Spirit shall not always strive with man." 
This word here rendered "strive" means to convince 
or convict. It is an efifect wrought upon the judg- 
ment or will of man. God never disregards or outrages 
man's free agency. He strives to convince and thus 
influence the will. There is no more exalted view of 
humanity than the one here presented — God striving 
to convince or persuade. God never insults the fac- 
ulties he has created. 

(2) The instrument that God's Spirit uses for the 
salvation of man is man. Man is secondary, but indis- 
pensable. God's Spirit strove with the antediluvian 
world through the preaching of Noah. He appealed 
to human reason by human persuasion, exhortation 
and warning. God has always resorted to this same 
process. God's Spirit strove to reform Israel by means 
of prophets who spoke the divine message of instruc- 
tion and warning. God is seeking to reform the world 
to-day by means of men sent to declare the divine 
message. 

(3) Destruction is preceded by the withdrawal of 
God's Spirit. This is true in individual and collective 



270 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

life. God's Spirit will strive through his chosen agents 
up to a certain point; then, if reformation is not ac- 
complished, God's effort ceases and destruction follows. 
In this case God said, "I will wait one hundred and 
twenty years," from which we conclude that God's 
striving will not cease as long as hope remains. This 
withdrawal is not an arbitrary act of God's sover- 
eignty. In fact, man may be said to bring about this 
terrible result by his own action. A person may so 
long disregard the message, so long stifle his own con- 
victions, that the message fails longer to make any 
impression. Then it may be truly said God's Spirit 
has ceased to strive with that person. 

(4) We may learn that destruction awaits every- 
thing that fails of the accomplishment of its intended 
purpose. Everything is intended for wise and useful 
ends. This truth finds highest application in the case 
of man. The dignity of man points to the greatness 
of his mission. The meanest worm that crawls has a 
useful mission ; how much greater the mission of him 
who was made in the divine image. The accomplish- 
ment of this mission is the only justification for ex- 
istence, God has no room in this world for a useless 
thing. Usefulness gives the only valid title to a place 
in world. We may therefore conclude that to fail in the 
accomplishment of the end of being means to insure 
destruction. Judgment is the last act of divine mercy 
exercised in behalf of the useless thing. 



PART IV. 
Xne Separate Sooks or the Pentateucn. 



271 



CHAPTER XVII. 
The Book of Genesis. 

1. In entering upon a discussion of the separate 
books of the Pentateuch, I will say, by way of preface, 
that the writings will be treated as veritable history 
in all essential particulars. If at any point fable or 
allegory is introduced — as, for instance, the story cf 
the temptation in the Garden of Eden, as is claimed by 
some — I shall not attempt to disprove this claim, as 
I do not consider that it in any way discredits the 
historic character of the narrative in its essential and 
deeper meanings. The significant historical fact is 
that man fell, not from inward impulse, but through 
outward suggestion, proceeding from a malevolent 
spirit, the bodily form of the agent being an item in 
the history of minor importance. True, there are 
some points in the story that do not lend themselves 
readily to the allegorical theory, but I do not think 
they are necessarily irreconcilable with that hypothe- 
sis. In any event, the great historic truths of the 
creation, temptation and fall of man are presented in 
a very clear, graphic and forceful manner. In short, 
the account is dramatic in the highest sense. 

2. It will also be seen that the claim for the his- 
torical character of the opening portion of Genesis 
necessarily carries with it the claim for the miraculous 
inspiration of the writer, since the events recorded 
could not have been personally known to him. ante- 
dating as they do the creation of man. And even 

273 



274 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

after man appeared, for a considerable period the facts 
of history recorded must have been directly revealed, 
since it is scarcely probable that records were kept 
from the beginning and during the earlier ages and 
probably not before the flood. Later, as the time of 
the fathers of the Hebrew people is approached, de- 
tached records and documents may have come into 
existence to which Moses may have had access, and, 
if so (and this purely hypothetical), this inspiration 
of the writer would involve a supernatural guidance 
in selectinr^ the true and that which was necessary to 
the divine purpose, and in rejecting the false and that 
which was not germane to said purpose. 

In brief, then, we shall treat the whole Penta- 
teuchal narrative as divinely inspired history, which 
we veritably believe it to be. 

3. As to when Moses produced the book we have 
no means of knowing: Some think that he wrote it 
in Midian before the Exodus, the immediate purpose 
being to comfort his enslaved brethren in Egypt, 
while others, and I think with better reason, incline to 
the opinion that he wrote it during the wilderness 
march after the giving of the law from Sinai, probably 
having received his instructions from God in the holy 
mount when the pattern of the tabernacle and the 
details of the Mosaic economy were committed to him. 

With these prelimmary remarks we will consider: 

I. The character of the Book of Genesis. 

1. It is the oldest trustworthy writing in the world. 
It contains all we know of the human race from the 
creation up to the time of Moses. No other writing 
makes any such claim as to age.* Homer, the most 



* Henry's Bible, Vol. 1., Preface. 



CHARACTER OF BOOK OF GENESIS. 275 

ancient heathen writer, lived about 750 B, C, which 
was about seven hundred years later than Moses, and 
his writings are not in any sense historical. Authentic 
heathen history begins with Herodotus and Thucydi- 
des, who lived about 500 B. C, nine hundred years 
after Moses' times, and even in this history there is 
much that is obscure and uncertain, and it presents a 
marked contrast to the tone of confidence and assur- 
ance that characterizes the writings of Moses. Is not this 
indicative of the inspiration claimed for these writings. 
2. It is far superior in every respect to the sacred 
writings of all other nations. The cosmogony of 
Genesis has a dignity and serious quality utterly lack- 
ing in that of other ancient nations. The mythologies 
of ancient peoples is trivial and childish in comparison 
with the account of creation in Genesis, and they all 
end in pantheism, polytheism or materialism. Here, 
again, is a fact pointing to inspiration, and in utter 
conflict with the doctrine of evolution, which makes 
monotheism (the doctrine of Genesis) the lineal 
descendant of polytheism, but Genesis makes mono- 
theism antedate polytheism at least, historically con- 
sidered, by a matter of seven or eight hundred years. 
The only way to avoid tliis conclusion is to carry for- 
ward the Pentateuch till the time of Josiah or later, 
and even this attempt breaks down, since that theory 
demands hypothetical documents much older than any 
ancient heathen writings, and these must have been 
monotheistic, since they are claimed as the basis of 
the Pentateuch. The Vedas of the Hindoos, the 
Zendavesta of the Persians, and the Yih-King of the 
Chinese, can in no way compare with the sublime, 
serious history of Genesis.* The former is a col- 



*Smith's Bible Dictionary, article "Genesis"; "Encyclopedia 
Bib. Lit." (Kitto), article "Genesis." 



276 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

lection of hymns mingled with legends ; the second is 
a mere speculation as to the origin of things; while 
the latter is an incoherent mass of writings incapable 
of being comprehended, or, rather, capable of being 
twisted into almost any sort of cosmological theory 
or ethical philosophy. At least, this is the testimony 
of those competent to pass an original judgment in 
the case. On the contrary, Genesis is a dignified 
history, worthy in its character of the divine origin 
claimed for it. 

II. The unity of the book. 

It is unnecessary to discuss the various theories as 
to the manner in which the book was produced. The 
leading divisive hypotheses are: The document 
hypothesis, the fragment hypothesis, the supplement 
hypothesis, the crystalization hypothesis, the modified 
document hypothesis and the development hypothe- 
sis.* The number of these hypotheses is a suspicious 
circumstance, and shows the lack of agreement be- 
tween the critics. The theories are all destructive 
in their nature, even in their mildest or most con- 
servative form. We may, therefore, safely conclude 
that the old view as to the origin of the Pentateuch, 
held universally by Jews, Christians and scholars gen- 
erally for two thousand years, until a comparatively 
recent time, ought not, and can not, be set aside by 
improved hypotheses, concerning which even the 
critics themselves are in dispute. 

The unity of the book need not be dwelt on at this 
point, since it is involved in the unity of the Penta- 
teuch, a necessary corollary of the Mosaic authorship, 
argued in previous chapters of this book. It was 

* "Higher Criticism of the Pentateuch" (Green\ pp. 61-144. 



VNITY OF THE BOOK. 277 

shown that the various divisive hypotheses put forth 
to prove that a plurality of documents, of different 
origins, enter into the Pentateuch, can not be accepted, 
because the arguments relied on do not yield the sup- 
port claimed for them. 

1. It was pointed out that the alternate occurrence 
in alternate sections of the two terms used for God, 
*'Elohim" and "Jehovah," a phenomenon especially 
noticeable in the early chapters of Genesis, does not 
furnish proof that two independent documents had 
been chopped up and mechanically pieced together to 
form one document and falsely ascribed to Moses, 
since the canon relied on breaks down in numerous 
places and is hence precarious at best. In other words, 
neither name can be rigidly confined to the sections 
to which by hypothesis it belongs, Jehovah appearing 
in Elohim sections and vice versa."^ 

2. It was pointed out that the argument of the two 
names of God has a different content or application, and 
that they are always used with discrimination and in 
a manner adapted to the sense of the passage in which 
they are found. It was pointed out that the argument 
for the composite character of the Pentateuch based 
on the alleged reproduction of the two original docu- 
ments by replacing the sundered fragments in their 
original settings loses its force by the fact that the 
professedly reconstructed documents are character- 
ized by chasms and sudden transitions that can be 
consistently filled only by the very passages separated 
out and assigned to the one or the other document. 

Furthermore, it was shown that what has been 
done with Genesis by the critics can be done with 



*See "Higher Criticism of the Pentateuch" CGreen) pp. 99; 
127; also "C3XI0. Bib. Lit. (Kitto\ Vol. T. article ''Genesis." 
for a discussion of the matter found on this and subsequent page. 



278 TEE WORD OF TRUTH. 

other documents the unity of which no one denies or 
questions.* 

3. The argument based on the claim that there are 
dupHcate accounts of the same events or stories, as, 
for instance, the accounts of creation and the flood, is 
shown by Professor Green and others to be based on a 
fiction, since the alleged duplications are really sep- 
arate accounts by the same writer, varying in some 
of the details and introduced for clearly distinct pur- 
poses. 

4. Finally, the argument from differences of style 
and diction may be cast to the winds, since some of 
the prominent advocates of the divisive theory frankly 
say that it has but little force. At best it is very un- 
certain, and even in its most plausible dress it involves 
reasoning in a circle, the differences being first created 
and then used as arguments to show diversity of 
authorship. 

Aside from all other considerations, can any one 
imagine that separate independent documents could 
be so pieced together as to produce such a book as 
Genesis, in which there is a clearly discoverable unity 
of purpose and plan from first to last? Common sense 
rejects the idea as involving a literary impossibility, if 
not a literary miracle. We hold, therefore, that the 
unity of Genesis has not been, and can not be, success- 
fully disputed. 

The general effect of all the divisive theories is 
much the same. All rob the Pentateuch of any historic 
value, and are irreconcilable with any theory of inspi- 
ration that places the Bible on a plane above that of 
any and all other books. The reception of any of 



NO CONFLICT WITH SCIENCE. 279 

these theories is incompatible with faith in the Bible 
as a superhuman book, or logic has no meaning. This 
fact was clearlv apprehended by their rationalistic 
authors. 

III. Is the Book of Genesis in conflict with science? 

Upon this point there is much dispute, and it may 
not be amiss to state in a general way the opposite 
positions taken. 

1. Rationalistic critics, and even the advocates of 
the divisive hypothesis who claim to believe in the 
inspiration of the Scriptures, see an irreconcilable con- 
flict between some of the teachings of the Book of 
Genesis and the doctrines of science. To show the 
position taken by the latter, I select a few passages 
from the Expositors' Bible, article on Genesis : 'Tf 
any one is in search of accurate information regarding 
the age of this earth, or its relations to the sun and 
moon and stars, or regarding the order in which plants 
and animals have appeared upon it, he is referred to 
recent text-books in astronomy, geology and palaeon- 
tology. No one for a moment dreams of referring a 
serious student of these subjects to the Bible as a 
source of information. It is not the object of the 
writers of Scripture to impart physical instruction or 
to enlarge the ground of scientific knowledge. . . . 
If his (the writer's) object was to give an intel'-i- 
gible account of God's relations to the world and to 
man, then it must be owned that he has been suc- 
cessful in the highest degree." 

Going upon the assumption that there is lack of 
agreement between the Bible and science, he defends 
the Bible as follows : *'As well might we deny to 
Shakespeare a masterly knowledge of human life be^ 



280 TEE WOBD OF TRUTH. 

cause his dramas are blotted by historical anachron- 
isms. The compiler of this book did not aim at sci- 
entific accuracy in speaking of physical details, as is 
obvious. . . . Indeed, what we mean by scientific 
knowledge was not in all the thoughts of the people 
for whom this book was written." 

Speaking of the attempts to bring Genesis into 
harmony with science, he says : "All attempts to force 
its statements into such harmony are futile and mis- 
chievous ; they are futile because they do not convince 
independent inquirers ; and they are mischievous be- 
cause they unduly prolong the strife between Scrip- 
ture and science, putting the question on a false issue. 
And above all they are to be condemned because they 
do violence to the Scripture, foster a style of inter- 
pretation by which the text is forced to say whatever 
the interpreter desires, and prevents us from recog- 
nizing the real nature of the sacred writings. If, 
for example, the word 'day' in these chapters (first 
and second of Genesis) does not mean a period 
of twenty-four hours, the interpretation of Scripture 
is hopeless. Indeed, if we are to bring these chapters 
into any comparison at all with science, we find at 
once various discrepancies. Of a creation of sun, 
moon and stars, subsequent to the creation of the 
earth, science can have but one thing to say." That 
the Scriptures say no such thing, w411 become apparent 
as we advance. 

]\Iuch more is said in support of the claim that the 
Bible is not in harmony with science and in explana- 
tion of the book as viewed from that standpoint. The 
author of the article evidently thinks he has made a 
triumphant defense of the Bible, regarded as an un- 
scientific book. It is strange that men who write in 



NO CONFLICT WITH SCIENCE, 281 

this way should have gamed the reputation of being 
scholars. 

2. It may, on the other hand, be freely admitted 
that the primary purpose of the Bible is not to teach 
physical or even mental science ; that it is not a text- 
book on geology or botany or astronomy, or any other 
scientific subject; yet may we not reasonably expect 
that such reference to the physical world as is inci- 
dentally made shall not contradict the certain and 
generally accepted facts of science as they have been 
or may be definitely ascertained? 

Especially is it true that a cosmogony such as is 
set forth in the early chapters of Genesis should, at 
least in its general outlines, conform to the plain teach- 
ings of science. Therefore, if an apparent conflict 
exists, as some claim, it does not raise the pre- 
sumption that our interpretation of Scripture state- 
ments is wrong, or that the "facts of science'' involv- 
ing the conflict are after all subject to revision. 
Furthermore, if the Scripture statements that are in 
seeming conflict with science can be reasonably inter- 
preted so as to remove the conflict, is this not better 
than to admit a conflict and then invent theories as to 
the nature of Scripture that may be accepted without a 
surrender of faith in them as a divine revelation, and 
especially since experience has shown that these theo- 
ries have done much to weaken or destroy the faith 
of many? Moreover, if a seeming conflict be admitted, 
it strengthens the position of the enemies of revela- 
tion, since it is seized upon by the skeptic as an addi- 
tional reason for rejecting the doctrine of inspiration. 

3. One thing more may well be taken into consid- 
eration in this connection ; namely, the changing of 
scientific theories that is continually going on. Some 



282 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

of the theories once generally accepted are now called 
in question, and some of the theories in favor to-day 
will probably be denied to-morrow. For instance, the 
nebular hypothesis not long since, and even now, held 
in great esteem, must at present compete for favor 
with the planetary hypothesis. 

The former accounts for our solar system by 
hypothecating a highly heated, greatly attenuated, 
nebulous mass of immense proportions, extending far 
beyond our remotest planets, yea, even beyond our 
most distant fixed stars, set to revolving by contrac- 
tion resulting from cooling on the outer surface. In 
this way an envelope denser than the central portion 
was formed, which broke loose from the part within 
by reason of its greater density, and then broke asun- 
der at its weakest point and rolled up into a ball, thus 
forming a planet, still highly heated, but gradually 
shrinking in size by cooling until finally it passed from 
the gaseous to the liquid and then to the solid state, 
at least on the outside, such as is now the condition 
of our earth and other planets of our solar system. 
This process continued to be repeated at successive 
intervals until all of the planets of our system were 
formed, leaving the central portion as a sun. The 
satellites of the earth, Jupiter and other planets are 
accounted for by supposing that the planet when 
thrown ofif repeated the process of the parent mass 
that had given it birth. This theory, plausible as it 
may seem, does not stand unchallenged. A rival 
hypothesis accounts for the planets by assuming that 
little nuclei were formed here and there in the great 
nebulous mass (just how is not explained), that gradu- 
ally grew by attracting the neighboring matter until 
all had been appropriated except little patches here 



NO CONFLICT WITH SCIENCE. 283 

and there that now constitute those interesting wan- 
derers called comets. As to whether one of these 
theories shall finally hold the field, or some other that 
will better account for all the phenomena, remains to 
be seen. Probably the question will never be settled, 
but until some definite and certain conclusion is 
reached, is it necessary to declare the Bible in conflict 
with science unless it be on some scientific points 
fixed beyond the peradventure of a doubt, and then 
only after it is shown that the language of Scripture 
can not be reasonably interpreted in harmony with the 
established scientific fact? 

4. As an instance in point, take the assertion re- 
ferred to above copied from the Expositors' Bible. In 
citing the first and second chapters of Genesis, the 
writer says : "If, for example, the word May' in these 
•chapters does not mean a period of twenty-four hours, 
the interpretation of Scripture is hopeless." One 
feels like saying, "Who told him that?" Certainly the 
Hebrew word yom, translated "day," does not always 
mean a period of twenty-four hours. Daniel uses 
the period of a day as representing a year when he 
speaks of the seventy weeks (490 years) that were 
allotted to his people before their special prerogatives 
would be taken away. Jacob worked a week for each 
of his wives, which we are told in the same connection 
was seven years. Here a day stands for a year. 

In Ezekiel, chapter 4, a day is used to symbolize a 
year. "I have appointed the years of their iniquity to 
be unto thee a number of days ; even three hundred 
and ninety days." Again in the same connection : 
"When thou hast accomplished these thou shalt lie on 
•thy right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house 
of Judah ; forty days a day for a year have I appointed 



284 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

it unto thee." We also read of the day of temptation 
in the wilderness; but the wilderness experience was 
forty years. As a matter of fact, the word yom is 
used to indicate an indefinite period ; it may be twelve 
hours or twenty-four hours, or a year, or forty years, 
or a much longer time. Then, why the declaration 
that it must mean twenty-four hours in Genesis or the 
interpretation of Scripture is hopeless? Many emi- 
nent scholars see no difficulty in giving to the word 
"day" in Genesis a period of indefinite duration, prob- 
ably running into millions of years. "^ 

5. It is also claimed that the Bible account of the 
making of the sun on the fourth day is unscientific, 
since light is represented as antedating the sun, but, 
according to the nebular hypothesis, this is just what 
must have taken place. A gaseous substance may 
become too highly heated to be luminous. The great 
original nebulous mass is supposed to have been in 
just that condition. After one ring after another of 
partially condensed material had been thrown off, the 
central mass, that now constitutes our sun, was prob- 
ably too highly heated to be luminous, but the cos- 
mical vapors or rings thrown off would cool faster 
than the central mass and hence become luminous 
before the sun, and the earth, being small, might vv^ell 
have cooled sufficiently to become solid and receive its 
light from other masses thrown off that had cooled 
sufficiently to become luminous. Venus, being 
younger than the earth, might have been one of the 
earth's luminaries before the sun became luminous, or 
there might have been patches of luminous vapor 
that have since been attracted to the existing planets. 

* For a very lucid presentation of this question, see Geikie's 
"Hours with the Bible," Vol. I., chapter iv. 



NO CONFLICT WITH SCIENCE. 285 

But there is another explanation that deserves notice. 
When the earth was in a much more highly heated 
condition than at present, the atmosphere surrounding 
would be filled with clouds which avouM obscure 
the sun, even if it had cooled sufficiently to become 
luminous. Then, if on the fourth day the clouds that 
obscured the sun had been precipitated upon the earth 
in the form of rain, the sun and moon would become 
visible and act as the rulers of day and night. It is 
not said, remarks Geikie, that the sun was created on 
the fourth day, but only that with the moon and stars 
it was then appointed to rule the day and night. Is 
it not a significant fact that the Bible account of the 
appearance of the sun and moon on the fourth day 
falls into line with the occurrence of events as ex- 
plained by the nebular hypothesis, the most widely 
accepted scientific theory of the present time? And 
even if its rival hypothesis should finally gain the 
ascendency, it is hard to see that any necessary con- 
flict would result. 

6. Note, then, the order of the Bible account and 
the testimony of science : 

( 1 ) First day : Creation, but no life. On this 
point science has nothing to say further than that a 
dead world antedated a world teeming witli life. The 
Bible declares that light appeared on this day, and the 
nebular hypothesis offers an explanation of this fact. 

(2) Second day : Division of the waters under the 
firmament from the, waters above the firmament. This 
is a declaration of a fact that lies outside of the 
assured results of science, and hence there is no con- 
tradiction. Science does not speak on this point fur- 
ther than by an inference growing out of the nebular 
hypothesis, and this inference falls in line with the 



286 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

Bible account. It is probable that at one time the 
surface of the earth was entirely covered by water, 
and that by upheavals caused by inward forces the 
water was gathered into seas and oceans and the con- 
tinents and islands were lifted up. 

(3) Third day: Separation of w-ater into seas and 
appearance of dry land, followed by vegetable life on 
land. Science does not contradict this, but claims that 
vegetable s^a life came first. Let it be so ; there is no 
conflict here. The Bible simply gives an account of 
the appearance of vegetable life on land, being silent 
as to vegetable life in the water, or, if the word 
''earth" is taken to mean both land and water, as is 
probable, then as a matter of course there is no con- 
flict. 

(4) Fourth day: Appointing of sun, moon and 
stars as rulers of day and night. "And God made two 
great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the 
lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also." 
The word here translated "made" is not the word 
bara, which is used to denote the original act of crea- 
tion, but asa, a word which means to form or con- 
struct out of material already in existence. It is used 
to designate the making of garments, the making of 
Israel into a great nation, etc. Hence, when God made 
the sun and moon on the fourth day he simply brought 
about conditions by which these bodies became rulers 
of day and night. This may have been done in part 
by the further shaping and molding of the material 
forming these bodies, and in part by removing the 
vapors or dense clouds that surrounded the earth and 
obscured the heavenly bodies. If the nebular hypothe- 
sis is true, it follows that at one time the earth was 
too hisfhlv heated to allow^ water to remain on its 



XO CONFLICT WITH SCIENCE. 287 

surface in liquid form. Hence all of the water we now 
have must have floated above the earth in the form of 
vapor. In the course of time the vapor would be con- 
densed in part and fall upon the earth. Then the 
waters which were under the firmament would be 
divided from the waters above the firmament, accord- 
ing to Bible statement. Finally, so much condensa- 
tion would have taken place that the heavenly bodies 
would be visible from the earth, and they would in 
the meantime have been still further molded and 
formed by God's plastic hand ; that is, by the forces he 
had set in operation. These processes took place on 
the fourth day. 

These words bara and asa are used with discrimina- 
tion when the making of man is described : "And God 
said, Let us make [asa] man." "And God created 
[bara] man in his own image." The word used to de- 
scribe the making of man's body would properly be 
asa, while the word used to designate the creation of 
the soul, the immortal part, would necessarily be bara, 
hence both are used in describing the making of man. 
In speaking of the making of the great sea monsters 
(Gen. 1:21), the word bara is used, which suggests 
an original act of creation. This, of course, could not 
be used with strict accuracy in describing the making 
of the physical part of the monster, if the foregoing 
position is correct, but since here a new principle is 
introduced, that of animal life, which before did not 
exist, bara seems entirely in place in this connection. 
In short, in the first chapter of Genesis bara is used 
three times : in describing the creation of the material 
universe (that is, the making of matter) ; the creation 
of the "sea monster" (that is, the introduction of ani- 
mal life) ; the creation of man (that is, the introduc- 



288 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

tion of spiritual life). It may be thought that the 
word bara should have been used in describing the 
introduction of vegetable life, and the fact that it is 
not used in that connection may seem to discredit the 
above explanation; but the Bible account (Gen. 1: 11) 
simply says : ''Let the earth put forth grass and seed." 
The word used is dasha, which means to spring forth, 
to sprout. There is no reference in the word to any 
creating or forming act. If the making of the seed 
containing the germ of life had been described, prob- 
ably hara would have been used, but this, for reasons 
unknown to us, was omitted. In Gen. 2 : 3 both words 
{hara and asa) are brought together: "And God 
blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it because that 
in it he rested from all his works which God had 
created [hara'l and made [a^a]." This points to the 
fact that God's work was a double one, that of creating 
and that of forming or shaping. 

(5) Fifth day: Creation of animal life, in the sea 
and the fowls of the air. This is in perfect harmony 
with the teachings of science on this point, which de- 
clares that sea animals appeared first in the order of 
creation or development. 

(6) Sixth day : Creation of land animals of all 
kinds, culminating in man, to whom was given domin- 
ion because he was the climax of creation, and conse- 
quently fitted to hold kingship over all below. Here, 
again, science and the Bible fall into perfect agreement. 

In short, the conflict that some would have us to 
believe exists, turns out to be more imaginary than 
real. But we do not insist that the Bible is a scientific 
book in the sense that its purpose or method is scien- 
tific, but we do insist that it is scientific in the sense 
that the order of events described falls in line with the 



HOW THE BOOK WAS PRODUCED. 289 

"assured facts" of science. One thing more may well 
be said here. While we claim that Bible statements 
may be reasonably interpreted in harmony with well- 
ascertained facts of science, we would not be under- 
stood as holding that all of its facts are capable of 
scientific explanation. Creation itself is a miracle; it 
is supernatural so far as there is any human grasp of 
the term "natural," or of that which it implies. By 
the term "natural" we m^an the processes of nature 
as we see them and know them in their ordinary 
manifestations. The Bible is full of miracles or super- 
natural facts. I use the term designedly, because the 
effort to make the miracles of the Bible a part of the 
natural as we can know it, or to explain them through 
the operation of natural law^s as we know them, is 
misleading and I believe pernicious. It is rational- 
istic in its tendencies, and ' its logical end is atheism. 
Many of the facts recorded in the Bible demand the 
immediate intervention of Deity, and this is the ex- 
planation that the Bible freely offers for them. 

IV. The manner in which the book was produced. 

This need not be dwelt on at any considerable 
length. Much of the previous matter in this volume 
has an indirect bearing on this question. Attention is 
here directed to four points for the sake of emphasis : 

1. The Bftok of Genesis is largely made up of sto- 
ries taken from the lives of certain prominent char- 
acters. The history clusters around Adam, Cain, Abel, 
Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. God's plans 
and purposes are revealed rather in concrete than in 
abstract form, which is the method best adapted to 
the average human mind. Scholars may take more 
pleasure in the philosophical presentation of a subject. 



290 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

but the average man delights most in concrete truth, 
and understands it best. This is one striking pecu- 
harity of the Bible. Its great truths — principles, sub- 
jects, methods — are made to walk before us in human 
form. When God wished to give us the very best 
conception of himself he did not present abstract no- 
tions of the divine attributes and qualities, but clothed 
himself in human flesh, ''and was found in fashion as 
a man." Jesus Christ did not present a philosophy, 
but lived a life, and "his life was the light of men." 
So in the first book of the Bible God's message is pre- 
sented largely in concrete form in incidents from the 
lives of great characters, and this method obtains 
largely throughout the volume. 

2. I do not deem it necessary to the integrity of 
the book to claim that ]\Ioses had access to no sources 
of information from which to draw some of his mate- 
rial. If some of the knowledge, necessary to the 
carrying out of the divine plan in revelation, was ob- 
tainable from human sources, we would expect that 
Moses would be left to such sources for that part of 
his message, being divinely guided in the selection of 
his material. This would be in harmony with the 
divine method elsewhere shown. God is an economist. 
He does not call into use superfluous agencies. He 
does not give truth by direct revelation that is dis- 
coverable through the ordinary or natural channels. 
"Man's extremity is God's opportunity." If men are 
able to discover the trace of different documents in 
Genesis, this would in nowise interfere with the 
Mosaic authorship, as has been previously shown, un- 
less these documents are assigned to a date later than 
the time of Moses. I think it not improbable that 
Moses, for a part of his material, drew from existing 



HOW THE BOOK WAS PRODUCED. 291 

documents probabh' written by different persons at differ- 
ent times previous to that of Moses. It is now a quite 
well-established fact that the art of writing is much older 
than the time of Closes. ]\Ioses probably acted in part as 
a compiler under the divine guidance. He need not 
slavishly follow the documents to which he had access. 
He could expound, curtail, complete, adorn and make 
the production his own, just as any other historian 
might do, being guided from error and mistake by in- 
spiration. 

3. I hold it to be very important in dealing with 
the method of production to take into account the 
factor of inspiration. It is not practicable or neces- 
sary to enter upon a discussion of the question of 
inspiration at this point; suffice it to say, the Bible 
seems to recognize at least two general forms of in- 
spiration — verbal and thought. In the former the 
exact words are imparted to the agent, of which w^e 
have some examples. In the latter the thought is 
communicated to the agent, leaving him free to ex- 
press it in his own style. The thought is imparted 
through vision, supernatural dream, miraculous spiritual 
illumination, stimulation of memory to recall things that 
would have been otherwise lost, and possibly in other 
ways. 

Moses must have received much of his material by 
direct inspiration, as its nature shows, but as to just 
how much he may have been divinely guided to select 
from existing materials, or from tradition, we can not 
know. Certain it is that the age of the patriarchs was 
favorable to the handing down of history in tradi- 
tional form. After all is said, it is evident that inspira- 
tion played a prominent part in the method of 
production. In short, the writing can only be properl}^ 



292 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

viewed and appreciated when considered as divinely 
inspired. 

4. It is not improbable that Moses' work may have 
been supplemented to a slight degree by some later 
author, but not to the extent of in any way interfering 
with the integrity of the work. A comment or a notice 
here and there may have been inserted. Ezra's hand 
may have had something to do in the final shaping up 
of the writings. All this may be accepted without in 
any way lessening our faith in the book as a divine 
revelation. 

V. The divisions of the book. 

The Boor of oenesis very naturally falls into five 
divisions, each one setting forth one great central 
person. 

1. The first eleven chapters give us an outline his- 
tory of the world up to the time of Abraham. Adam 
is the central figure. This portion of the book is made 
up of stories pertaining to the creation, the fall, Cain 
and Abel, the flood, and the story of the building of 
the tower of Babel, together with some genealogies 
and the table of nations. It is preparatory to the his- 
tory of Israel as a nation, and furnishes the back- 
ground for the development and segregation of the 
chosen people. 

2. Beginning with chapter 12, Abraham, the father 
of the chosen nation, comes into view, and he occupies 
the center of the stage up to and including chapter 20. 

3. Chapter 21 continues the history of Abraham, 
and introduces his son Isaac, with whom the history is 
more or less occupied till chapter 26 is ended. 

4. In chapter 27 Jacob comes to the front, and be- 



DIVISIONS OF THE BOOK. 293 

comes the central figure in the history and holds the 
attention to the close of chapter 35. 

5. Passing over chapter 36, which is genealogical 
in character, chapter 37 introduces Joseph as the im- 
portant and interesting figure, who occupies the atten- 
tion to the close of the book. 

In brief, we may say Genesis gives us the early 
history of the world and a history of the fathers of 
the chosen nation. 

6. Interesting characters are incidentally brought 
to view ; such as Noah ; Lot, the brother of Abraham ; 
Sarah, the wife of Abraham ; Rebeckah, the wife of 
Isaac ; Esau, the brother of Jacob, and some others of 
less prominence. All of them contribute striking 
features that will never lose their interest till the end 
of time. 

7. Predictive prophecy is introduced here and 
there, but it is far less abundant than it is later in the 
history of the chosen people. The promise to Eve that 
the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the 
serpent is regarded as the first prophetic utterance. 
As a counterpart of this may be mentioned the great 
spiritual promise to Abraham that in him and in his 
seed all families of the earth should be blessed, ac- 
companied by the promise of a country and a temporal 
posterity. Here is really the very heart of the Book of 
Genesis, and on these two promises to Abraham rest 
the two great covenants known as the old and the 
new. In this book is shown the beginning of God's 
great scheme of grace embracing the whole human 
family. Thence "onward, in ever-increasing measures 
of strength and power, the great plan marches onward 
to its fulfillment, and to-day more than ever before the 



294 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

signs of the times indicate that the blessed consumma- 
tion will not be long delayed. 

VI. The design of the book. 

It would be hard to set forth in a sentence the 
great central design of the book, but several distinct 
purposes seem to stand out with more or less clear- 
ness : 

1. The great question of man's origin is distinctly 
stated. He is the child of the King of the universe, 
created by Him in his own image and likeness. Xo 
more ennobling or inspiring thought is conceivable. 

2. Alan's disobedience, brought about through the 
machinations of an external malevolent agent. This 
fact gives hope of final victory, since sin did not spring 
up in man spontaneously and is hence not native to 
the soul. It is an intruder and may be cast out. 

3. The largest general purpose of the book may be 
stated as the history of the development of an elect 
people through whom should come the redemption of 
the race, and as the setting forth of God's relations 
and dealings with that people until they were suffi- 
ciently developed to be molded into a great indepen- 
dent nation. 

4. Some of the great lessons taught, whether inci- 
dentally or by design it matters not, may be enumer- 
ated as follows: 

(1) The destructive tendencies of sin a> wit- 
nessed in the character and fate of Cain and his 
descendants, the disastrous effects culminating in the 
destruction of an ungodly world. 

(2) The saving effects of righteousness as shown 
in the line of Seth, Enoch, Xoah, Abraham and on- 
ward. 



DESIGN OF THE BOOK. 295 

(3) The power and blessedness of faith as demon- 
strated in the life of Abraham, a faith capable of with- 
standing the greatest conceivable test, as is shown in 
the offering up of Isaac. 

(4) The transformation of Jacob from a scheming, 
dishonest man into one that God could trust and use in 
the carrying out of his great purposes. 

(5) The reason for the loss of great privileges or 
birthright ; namely, the despising or neglect of those 
privileges as shown in the history of Esau. 

(6) The true meaning of repentance as exemplified 
in the case of Jacob in his notable wrestle with the 
angel. 

(7) The elevation of Joseph, not for his own sake, 
but for the sake of service to Egypt and to his owii 
people. 

These are a few of the many wonderful lessons 
taught in this very wonderful book. 



CHAPTER X\'III. 

The Book of Elxodus. 

The Book of Exodus is, as its name indicates, the 
book of the going out. It gives an account of the 
preparation of Israel for deliverance from Egyptian 
bondage, the accomplishment of that deliverance, and 
the establishment of the theocracy by the promulga- 
tion of the law from Sinai by the hand of Moses, which 
constituted the national charter. 

I. The character of the book is worthy of con- 
sideration. 

1. It has every mark of authentic history. It may 
well have been written by an eye-witness, judging 
from the evident familiarity of the writer with local 
conditions, his lucid and graphic descriptions, his inti- 
mate and accurate knowledge of events which is incident- 
ally and undesignedly shown at every point, and the com- 
plete agreement of statement with all geographical, 
ethnological and historical facts gathered from out- 
side sources. 

2. It has a high moral character. It exalts right- 
eousness and condemns vice. It is always dignified 
in its tone and never descends to the trivial and incon- 
sequential. Its writer speaks forth evidently what he 
believes to be the words of truth and soberness. He 
moves on an exalted plane, in conscious fellowship 
with the Jehovah he worships and obeys. If signs 
and wonders are introduced, it is done without hesi- 

296 



WORTHY OF CONSIDERATION. 297 

tancy or apology, or the slightest shadow of doubt or 
uncertainty. The rule of Horace is exemplified: When 
a God is introduced there is always an occasion or a 
difificulty worthy of a God's intervention present. Men 
may deny the facts recorded, but the signs of insincer- 
ity or falsehood are conspicuously absent from the 
writing. 

3. Its credibility goes without saying with those 
who have no prejudice against the miraculous. To 
those of a rationalistic turn of mind many of its state- 
ments will be rejected, but this is equally true of all 
the miracles recorded in both Old and New Testa- 
ments. The reverent student of God's word will find 
nothing here that he can not accept. The miracles re- 
corded are certainly not too great for God, nor do they 
in their character impeach his moral excellence, his 
wisdom or his goodness. ^Nlany of its historic facts 
have been vigorously assailed, but without effect up to 
the present time, and all recent investigations have 
tended to support its statements. Many allusions in 
ancient profane history point to a connection between 
Israel and Egypt. Manetho, it is said, speaks of a for- 
eign dynasty. This agrees with the Bible writer who 
mentions ''a king who knew not Joseph." He also 
speaks of an eastern people occupying lower eastern 
Egypt, and says they became numerous, thus corrobo- 
rating the Bible account that represents them as three 
million strong at the time of the exodus, if each fight- 
ing man represents five persons, which is the generally 
allowed proportion. All of the Pharaohs have been 
exhumed from their ancient and long-forgotten tombs 
except the Pharaoh of the exodus. Was his body lost 
in the Red Sea when he pursued fleeing Israel? At 
least, the missing body is suggestive, although the ac- 



'298 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

count does not specifically state that he was lost with 
his army. 

AH in all, the believer in God's word has no cause 
to surrender his faith in the Book of Exodus, but, 
on the contrary, there is much to strengthen it. 

II. The divisions of the book are by no means 
obscure. 

Two distinct schemes of division may be readily 
applied to the Book of Exodus : One based upon the 
character of the subject-matter and the other upon the 
dominant thoughts in the different portions. The 
former yields a twofold, the latter a threefold, di- 
vision. 

1. The twofold division consists of: 

(1) A historical portion, occupying the first eigh- 
leen chapters, the ground covered being an account of 
the preparation leading to the deliverance of Israel 
and the actual accomplishment of that deliverance. 

(2) A legislative portion, beginning with chapter 
19 and occupying the remaining portion of the book. 
The complicated details of the peculiar religious econ- 
oni}^ of the chosen people are set forth and a descrip- 
tion of the tabernacle and a history of its construction 
are given. 

2. The threefold division, based on the leading 
thought of the different sections in which we have the 
first division of the previous analysis subdivided, is 
as follows : 

(1) The first eleven chapters deal with a threefold 
preparation, all leading to, and necessary to. the ac- 
complishment of the one great result :* 

(a) There is first the preparation of Moses for the 
work of deliverance. His birth, his Egyptian life oi 



*• "Studies of die Books of the Bible," Stevenson, pp. 18-21. 



DIVISIONS NOT OBSCURE. 299 

forty years, and his Arabian experience of forty years, 
absorb the attention of the historian, until he receives 
his commission at the burning bush and miraculous 
power is conferred upon him fitting him for the task. 

(b) The second preparation is that of the people to 
be delivered. This was accomplished by reciting all 
that God had spoken to Moses and performing the 
signs in their sight. Thus faith in the leader was pro- 
duced. Here we find a close analogy between Moses 
and his great antitype. As Moses demonstrated his 
divine call and mission, so Christ wrought miracles to 
substantiate his claims. Hence the words of John : 
^'Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of 
his disciples that are not written in this book, but these 
are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, 
the Son of the living God, and believing have life in 
his name." 

(c) It was necessary for Pharaoh to be prepared 
to let the people go hence, the next step in the process 
of deliverance. A description of this preparation be- 
gins with chapter 5 and ends with chapter 11, or, 
rather, with the slaying of the firstborn of the Egyp- 
tians in the first part of chapter 12. 

Now all things are ready for the deliverance of 
God's people. The leader is prepared, the people are 
prepared, and Pharaoh is prepared. When God under- 
takes to do things, he moves forward by logical, neces- 
sary and irresistible steps. It is evident that preparation 
is the leading thought in this division. 

(2) With chapter 12 the history of the actual deliv- 
erance begins, and this occupies the attention of the 
historian up to and including chapter 18. The passage 
through the sea, the song of deliverance, several sta- 
tions or encampments, the giving of the manna, the 



300 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

appointing of the Sabbath, and the visit of Jethro, are 
graphically set forth. 

In this section the salvation of Israel is the domi- 
nant idea. 

(3) Beginning with chapter 19, the steps are set 
forth necessary for the habitation of God with his 
people. A great national assembly, with a constitution 
consisting of the ten commandments, is formed, and 
much other legislation extremely minute and particu- 
lar. The final culmination is reached in the erection 
of the tabernacle and the filling of that wonderful 
typical building with the glory of the Lord, symbolic 
of his presence in his church, the great antitype of the 
tabernacle, yea, even of his presence through the Holy 
Spirit in the individual Christiaft heart, which in the 
last analysis is the temple of the living God. In this 
section habitation or dwelling-place of God with his peo- 
ple is the central idea. 

III. In this book three g^eat designs are readily 
discoverable. 

1. There is first of all the evident purpose to pre- 
serve the memorial of the great facts of the selection, 
development and consecration of the chosen people. 
This is done by setting forth three stages of national 
history ; namely, the nation enslaved, the nation re- 
deemed, and the nation set apart and consecrated to 
the service of God by a peculiar blending of its polit- 
ical and religious life. 

2. The book also serves a great moral purpose. 
Paul says : "All these things happened to them for 
examples." In other words, the history furnishes us 
with a series of impressive types foreshadowing the 
spiritual verities of the future universal kmgdom of 
heaven for which God was preparing. 



THREE DESIGNS DISCOVERABLE. 301 

(1) The chosen nation was typical of the elect 
people in Christ Jesus, which Avas an election of grace 
conditioned on man's acceptance and conformity in 
life to the divine standards. 

(2) Moses, the emancipator of his people from the 
bondage of Egypt and their leader through the wilder- 
ness into the promised land, was typical of Christ as 
the emancipator of Chr'istians from the bondage of 
sin and their leader through the pilgrimage of life to 
the land of everlasting life. 

(3) The passover lamb, slain on the eve of the de- 
parture from Egypt, through whose blood, sprinkled 
upon the doorposts, the people were saved from the 
destroying angel that passed through the land, was 
typical of Christ, the true passover slain for us^ 
through whose blood we are saved from the death due 
to sin. 

(4) The passage of the Israelites through the Red 
Sea, by which they were baptized unto Moses in the 
cloud and in the sea, and thus saved from the Egyp- 
tians and constituted a separate nation, was typical of 
our baptism into Christ, by which we are saved from 
sin and become an elect or chosen people set apart 
unto good works. 

(5) The giving of the law from Sinai, fifty days 
after the slaying of the first passover, was typical of 
the giving of the Christian law which was promul- 
gated on the first Pentecost after the slaying of the 
true passover. 

(6) The Tabernacle, with its Outer Court, Holy 
Place, Holy of Holies, together with the furniture of 
each division, was typical of the new institution, its 
ordinances and appointments cf grace and glory. 

(7) Finally, the passage over Jordan into the 
promised land was typical cf the passage of the Chris- 



302 THE WORD OF TRUTH 

tian over the Jordan of death into the Canaan of ever- 
lasting rest. 

3. The larger design, and in a sense embracing the 
other two, seems to be to show the relation of Israel 
to Jehovah as embraced in both his direct and indirect 
purposes, or^ rather^ in his immediate and remote 
plans. We thus not only see God's dealings with his 
people in liberating them and molding them for him- 
self, but large expectation is awakened as to the gra- 
cious plans and purposes of God for all mankind. 

IV. It may not be without profit to consider briefly 
the relations of Exodus to the book that precedes it. 

1. In historic matter there is a wide chasm. 
Genesis closes with the death of Jacob and Joseph ; 
both events are recorded in the last chapter of the 
book Exodus opens by giving a brief statement con- 
cerning the rapid growth of the Israelites in numbers, 
the jealousy thus aroused in the Egyptians and the 
consequent oppression, and then records the birth of 
Moses, which is the real beginning of the book. Be- 
tween the death of Jacob and this event a long time 
intervened, estimated at two hundred years or more. 
In harmony with the divine method in revelation, 
everything not germane to the divine purpose is 
dropped out no matter how interesting it might have 
been in itself. Imagination can readily supply missing 
details of the lives of the Israelites during this long 
period. At first they no doubt lived a free, easy, pros- 
perous life, pastoral in its nature, but gradually the hand 
of the oppressor became heavier, and labor increased 
until life itself became a burden. 

2. Between the subject-matter of Genesis and that 
of Exodus there is an interesting contrast. Each book 
sets forth in its besfinninsr a new and distinct creation. 



PROMINENT DOCTRINES OF BOOK. 303 

Genesis tells us how God formed the material uni- 
verse. Exodus tells us how God formed a nation, and 
both, as Matthew Henry remarks, to his own praise 
and glory. In one, the same author says, we have the 
creation of the world in history ; in the other, the re- 
demption of the world in type. 

In the first we have the promise made to Abraham 
as to a fleshly posterity ; in the latter we have the 
accomplishment of that promise. In short, in Exodus 
we see the second step in God's majestic progress 
toward the accomplishment of his stupendous plan 
for the salvation of the race. 

V. Some of the prominent doctrines of the book 
may be enumerated as follows: 

1. Deliverance accomplished through the operation 
of a higher power. This is universally true. As Mr. 
Drummond says, the upper world must reach down 
to the lower and lift it up. The mineral is lifted up by 
the vegetable, the vegetable by the animal, the human 
by the divine. The lifting force must be above the 
level of the thing lifted, hence, for any man to ])ecome 
a lifter of his fellows, he must himself be lifted above 
them. 

2. The necessity of ordinances for the purpose 
of impressing religious truth. Let no man think the 
ordinances of God can be set aside without disastrous 
results. Does not this show that forms have a value 
if kept within proper limits? 

3. Vicarious sacrifice for the salvation of men or 
the suffering of the innocent for the guilty. The inno- 
cent paschal lamb was slain for a sinful people, thus 
pointing to Him who suffered for us and bore in his 
own body our sins upon the tree. This supreme ex- 
ample points to a universal fact. The cross is the 



304 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

great lifting force of the universe, and he who escapes 
it deprives himself of the power to save others. 

4. Reconciliation with God accomplished through 
divinely appointed means. The chasm between God 
and man is not of God's making. ''Our sins have sep- 
arated between us and God," but, thanks be to his 
name, the chasm has been bridged from the divine 
side to the human. Hence, the apostle says, ''We pray 
you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God." If the 
chasm remains, it is our fault. If man remains un- 
reconciled, he alone is to blame. 

5. The necessity for great leadership. Power, to 
be effective, must be rightly directed, and proper di- 
rection demands leadership,. All can not be leaders. 
For one leader there must be a multitude of good 
followers, but he who would render supreme service 
must prepare himself for leadership. Then, if he has 
the inherent authority, in God's good time he will 
come into his kingdom. 

6. Approach to God through a Mediator. Moses 
was the mediator between God and Israel, and in this 
he w^as typical of Christ, our Mediator through whom 
we have access to the Father. 

7. God as the great necessity in civil government. 
There is much said about the separation of church and 
state, and this is one of the cardinal principles of our 
government, but let no one imagine that this means 
the elimination of God from the state. The fact is, 
the institution from vhich God is eliminated is 
doomed to perish. What the governments of the 
w^orld need to-day is more of God, and the way to have 
more of God in our government is to have more of 
God in the people. The habitation of God with men 
is the great necessity for ideal government. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The Book of Leviticus. 

If we have been Impressed by the sacred character 
of the two looks that we have considered, we will cer- 
tainly be even more so by the study of this book. 
Here God is brought very close to his people in that 
he gives directions concerning the minutest details 
of their daily lives. The tendency of this is to make even 
the every-day routine of existence very sacred. 

I. There are some peculiarities of the book that 
arrest attention and may well be noticed. 

1. The previous books are full of historic inci- 
dents, but in this book historic matter almost reaches 
the vanishing point. Three incidents make up the 
historic matter of the book, except that the giving 
of different bodies of laws may be regarded as historic 
incidents. In chapter 8 we have an account of the 
consecration of the priests ; in chapter 10 the punish- 
ment of Nadab and Abihu, for offering strange fire 
on the altar, is recorded, and in chapter 20 the official 
punishment of one for blasphemy is mentioned. With 
these exceptions, the whole book is given up to 
the recording of laws and descriptions of the observ- 
ance of laws. 

But while the book deals little In historic incident, 
yet it shows a historic progress In the legislation 
delivered by God to his people. There is a marked 

305 



306 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

advance upon the previous legislation, the new laws 
being supplementary to and closely connected with 
those of Exodus. 

2. There is a notable lack of anything like sys- 
tematic arrangement, which is doubtless accounted 
for by the conditions and circumstances under which 
the laws were given. If the laws were given at differ- 
ent times during the sojourn at Sinai, as is probable, 
the fragmentary nature of the laws is just what might 
be expected. In fact, a logically and systematically 
arranged code would give rise to grave doubts as to 
its genuineness. If this legislation had been forged 
by a person or persons hundreds of years after Closes' 
time, systematic arrangement would doubtless have 
characterized it, and the absence of this is a strong 
proof for the claim of ^losaic authorship. 

3. There is a harmony of spirit and detail which, 
taken in connection with the fragmentary or unsys- 
tematic character of the book, argues strongly for 
unity of authorship and the inspiration of the writer. 
In such a book the harmony that exists could scarcely 
have been produced through a plurality of authors. 

II. The divisions of the book come next in order. 

The book may be divided and subdivided at great 
length, owing to the multitude of details covered by 
the legislation ; but the design of this volume does not 
require this at our hands. Three broad divisions may 
be made. We have : 

1. The portion occupied with the opening chap- 
ters, 1 to 7. 

The sacrifices may be divided as follows : 

(1) As to kind, into bloody and unbloody; (2) as 
to aim, into sin-offerings, trespass-offerings, peace- 



DIVISIONS OF BOOK. 307 

offerings ; (3) as to manner, voluntary and required ; 
(4) as to offerings prescribed for times and seasons, 
which are minutely described and specifically enjoined. 
This, however, is rather a classification of some 
of the materials of the book than a division of the 
book. 

2. The second division, beginning with chapter 
8, deals with the question of priesthood. An account 
is given of how Aaron and his sons were set apart 
to the holy office by solemn and impressive cere- 
monies. Directions to the sons of Aaron are given,, 
beasts are separated into clean and unclean, directions 
concerning the dealing with diseases follow, and this 
in turn by instructions concerning sacrifice. 

3. From chapter 17 onward the great absorbing 
theme is holiness unto the Lord : Purity, honesty, 
chastity, hospitality, ceremonial cleanliness, faithful- 
ness, are enjoined and emphasized. 

Beginning with chapter 23 the great national festi- 
vals are set forth ; namely, the Passover, Pentecost and 
Feast of Tabernacles. 

Chapter 25 deals with sabbatical years and jubilees,, 
giving instruction as to the rest of the land, reversal 
of property to original owners, manner of dealing with 
bondmen and their redemption. The closing chapters 
deal with commands, promises, threatenings, vows 
and offerings of divers kinds. In short, in the third 
section practical religious life is made prominent. 
In reading this portion of the book one familiar with 
the New Testament is reminded of the words of 
James: 'Ture religion and undefiled before our God 
and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the 
widows in their affliction, and to keep himself un- 
spotted from the world." 



308 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

III. The design of the book is evident. 

1. In Exodus there are two great themes: Israel 
redeemed, and God descending to meet and dwell with 
his people. In Leviticus the people are instructed how 
they may draw near to God with acceptance, and 
how they may retain his favor and blessing. 

2. The connection with Exodus is very close. 
That book closes with the setting up of the Tabernacle, 
made after the pattern shown to Moses in the mount. 
This was the great meeting-house or place of worship 
located at different places during the period of wander- 
ing and conquest, but finally fixed at Jerusalem, when 
the Tabernacle, a temporary structure, gave place to a 
permanent structure called the Temple, but con- 
structed after the same general plan as the Tabernacle. 
It will thus be seen that Leviticus follows Exodus 
naturally and necessarily. Both must be taken to- 
gether in order to have an adequate and proper con- 
ception of the divine plan. The Book of Exodus thus 
makes the design of Leviticus very clear. 

3. The great prophetic purpose should not be lost 
sight of. As the Tabernacle was made after a divinely 
given model, so it was fitting that the worship which 
should there be administered should be divinely pre- 
scribed, and this was the more necessary owing to the 
typical nature of both building and w^orship. God 
alone could plan a house and a worship that would 
furnish a pictorial outline of the great Spiritual Tem- 
ple, and its worship and ordinances, Avhich were yet 
fifteen hundred years in the future when the Taber- 
nacle and its worship were ordained. 

How any one can place the new institution and the 
old side by side ; note how each matches the other, 
part to part ; how, as has been said, "in the old the new 



DESIGN OF BOOK. 309 

lies concealed, and in the new the old is revealed," 
and then doubt the divine origin of either, passes 
comprehension. 

When the typical nature of the old institution 
is considered, we see the significance of God's lan- 
guage to Moses : ''See that thou make all things ac- 
cording to the pattern shown thee in the mount." 
There was no room left for Moses to exercise his own 
ingenuity or smartness. He could not look down the 
centuries fifteen hundred years and see the institution 
that was finally to displace the one he was then en- 
gaged in setting up, and make each part of his insti- 
tution a complete pictorial representation of that 
which was to follow. Only He who inhabits eternity 
could do that. 

4. Under this head a matter of practical moment 
to us should not escape our observation. Since the law 
of Moses had an ideal tendency and purpose ; since it 
looked to the future as well as to its own present; 
since all of its sacrifices were typical — we may well 
ask. How does this affect us? Are we likely to fail 
of a proper understanding of the new institution under 
v^hich we live, by an inadequate or wrong conception 
of the old? To ask these questions is to answer them. 
We study mythology in order to understand many 
allusions in classic literature. Much more should we 
study the modes of Jewish worship in order to under- 
stand the Bible literature both of the Old and New 
Testaments. In fact, I do not believe we can have a 
comprehensive view of the religion of Christ if we 
leave out of view the typical preparatory religion that 
preceded it. 

5. Among the various designs discoverable in both 
Exodus and Leviticus there is none more important 



310 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

tnan the typical presentation of Christ. As Moses 
typified Christ as the great prophet and teacher of the 
new dispensation, so Aaron typified him as our great 
High Priest. x\s Aaron offered the prescribed sin- 
offering, so Christ offered himself as a sin-oft'ering for 
the world. As Aaron went into the Holy of Holies 
with the blood of atonement and sprinkled it on the 
mercy-seat, so Christ entered heaven with his own 
blood, and sent forth the Holy Spirit as a witness of 
the fact that his offering had been accepted. 

IV. The credibility of the book is substantiated 
by conclusive evidences. 

1. There is constant reference to the Tabernacle, 
and to no other place of worship. If there was ever 
any departure from this rule in later history, it grew 
out of extraordinary conditions that made such deviation 
necessary or readily explainable. During the wilderness 
march the Tabernacle occupies a central and conspic- 
uous position. 

2. All the incidents recorded are associated with camp 
life, and Moses was the commander of the camp. The 
whole atmosphere is just what it ought to be under 
the circumstances set forth. Could a later writer 
have transplanted himself backward for hundreds of 
years, and have maintained such uniform consistency 
of statement amidst the multitude of details intro- 
duced? Such a thing is incredible. *'If thy faith be 
weak, why choose the harder part?" 

3. The laws fit the Mosaic period, and would need 
modification to suit a later time. If in the legislation 
future conditions are ever anticipated, is it not much 
more rational to account for this on the ground of 
the inspiration of the writer for a wise purpose in the 



LESSONS OF BOOK. 311 

providence of God, than to put forth the theory that a 
writer at a much later date had invented legislation 
to meet conditions that had long since disappeared? 
The former is just what might be expected under all 
the circumstances, while the latter is inconceivable, 
or, rather, unreasonable in the highest degree. 

4. There is much to remind one of Egypt. There 
is just a sufficient tinge of Egyptian life, manners and 
customs to harmonize with the claim that the writer 
had been educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. 
These incidental matters tend to strengthen faith in 
the credibility of the writings in no small degree. 

V. A few of the great lessons of the book are here 
set forth. 

1. There is a striking difference between the old 
economy and the new in the way Hfe and conduct are 
regulated. In the former, law is the governing princi- 
ple. Conduct is regulated by, *'Thou shalt "and "Thou 
shalt not." Much is prescribed. Actions are minutely 
specified. The individual is kept in the divinely ap- 
pointed path by positive and negative rules. In the 
latter the laws and specifications are conspicuously 
few. Worship is simple and largely voluntary. Pria- 
ciples are planted in the heart and men are governed 
from the inside out. Paul speaks of the new law 
being written on fleshly tables of the heart and not on 
tables of stone. This is the ideal way. No man is 
safe until he is governed on the high ground of prin- 
ciple. This is the system under which God was pre- 
paring to place the world. Hence, says the apostle, 
''the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ." 

2. It may well be observed, however, that gov- 
ernment by law is a necessary stage in the process of 



312 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

development, both in the individvial and society at 
large. The little child must of necessity be largely 
governed by law. There is a time when ''Thou shalt" 
and *'Thou shalt not" are his rules of action. This, 
however, is transient. If the process is faithfully ad- 
hered to during the proper time, after awhile the in- 
dividual is lifted up to a plane where he acts from 
principle. He does things because they are right and 
not because the father says "Thou shalt" or ''Thou 
shalt not." To omit this stage in the development of 
the child, as many parents do, is disastrous. A per- 
son must learn to act upon authority if he is afterward 
to be trusted to act on principle. God teaches us this 
great lesson in his dealing with Israel. He put the 
infant undisciplined and undeveloped nation under 
law, rigid and severe. He recognized the fact that 
individuals and nations psychologically demand the 
same thing; children must be put under law. Is it not, 
however, a deplorable sight to see people under the 
new dispensation insisting that they be kept under 
law; demanding that a law or rule must be given for 
every little detail of Christian life, worship or work; 
refusing to move on the high ground of principle. To 
do this is to insist on living under Aloses instead of 
under Christ. However, if people come into the 
church of Christ, and continue to be children, never 
able to come unto a knowledge of the truth, then by 
all means let them remain slaves to the letter, for this 
is far better than license, or liberty without law, but 
the ideal thing is to be made free from the law in the 
sense of being able to do right because it is right and 
not simply because it is written. 

By this, I would not be understood as intimating 
that there are no commands under the new dispensa- 



LESSONS OF BOOK. 313 

tion, but they are few and simple. Such as are given 
must be obeyed, but the multitudinous duties of 
Christian life, and many things that may enter into 
Christian worship, are left to be performed through 
the operation of inward principles implanted in the 
soul through the teaching of Christ and his apostles. 
No more v/ould I intimate that Judaism was wholly a 
system of law. It had spiritual elements, and it im- 
p-lanted the beginnings of spiritual activities. Just as 
the father, while governing the child by law, begins 
the inculcating of principles that shall ultimately 
dominate life, so God dealt with Israel. 

One other reason remains for so much detail in 
legal enactment under the old dispensation ; namely, 
its highly typical character. This feature of the 
system made much specific command and instruction 
a necessity. 

3. Another lesson of the book is this : Without 
holiness no man shall see the Lord. The great prac- 
tical purpose of the system for the people to whom it 
was given was to purify life, build character, fit men 
for service, and thus prepare them for fellowship with 
God. The pure in heart only can see God. 

4. A study of the wonderful book should teach us 
the lesson of gratitude to God for our precious inherit- 
ance. At best the burdensome and complicated sys- 
tem under which the*Israelites were placed was only 
prospective so far as the pardon it offered was con- 
cerned. The blood of bulls and of goats could not take 
away sin. Condemnation was only stayed from year 
to year; but how different with us. 'There is now 
no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, 
wlio walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." 



314 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

Well may we sing: 

"Free from the law, oh happy condition ! 
Jesus has died and there is remission. 
Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall, 
Jesus has saved us once for all." 

Paul declared : *'The law of the spirit of life in 
Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin 
and death." Under Tyloses sins were remembered 
again every year, but under Christ our sins and in- 
iquities are remembered no more. 

5. The last lesson that I will cite is found in the 
principle : "Unto whom much is given of them much 
shall be required." While we may well rejoice in 
our inestimable privileges, let us never forget that 
thereby our own obligations are greatly increased. 
Well may we pray for divine strength to enable us to 
meet and discharge our great obligations, that we 
may stand justified at last and receive the approval 
of our King. 



CHAPTER XX. 

The Book of Number.*:. 

The purpose of the sacred writer sometimes plays 
havoc with chronological order and relative proportion 
between different sections of the subject-matter. God 
does not always inspire his agents to record events in 
chronological order or to occupy space according to 
the time covered by the history. God's revelations are 
for a definite purpose, and he marches to the desired 
end in his own way, which is often very different from 
the way that men would choose. Hence, it is not 
uncommon to hear men criticize the divine method of 
procedure and to demand why more has not been said 
here and less there. The Bible method of presenting 
the truth is unique in many respects, and stamps it as 
a book sui generis. 

I. The Book of Numbers furnishes an instance of 
a Bible peculiarity in respect to order and proportion.* 

1. We have first an example of chronological dis- 
placement. The first chapters of the book record the 
events of the second month of the second year after 
the departure from Egypt, while subsequent chapters 
record the events of the first month of the year. 
This departure from chronological sequence of events 
is clearly shown in the history of the two months. 



* "Studies of the Books of the Bible," Stevenson, p. 26. 

315 



316 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

The important thing with the writer was not to 
present a string of events as they occurred, but to 
bring to view a situation that could best be shown 
in this way. The second thing in order of time should 
sometimes be first in order of narration, in order to 
secure a certain result. It is so here. The great purpose 
of the book is first thrust into view as we shall soon 
see, and this is accomplished by narrating the events 
of the second month first. 

2. We have in this book an example of chronological 
disproportion. It is a habit of sacred writers to con- 
dense unimportant and irrelevant matters into very 
small space. In this book ten chapters are occupied 
with the events of two months, nine chapters with the 
events of thirty-eight years, and seventeen chapters 
with the events of but a brief time at most. How 
true is this to life as we know it. There are days 
and days. There are seasons that seem to contain 
nothing of importance, that are filled up with the most 
commonplace events, and then brief spaces of time, 
a moment, an hour, a day, into which the whole future 
life seems to be condensed and to which the whole 
past life seems to have led. After all, it is not the 
length of time that counts, but the intensity of the 
moment or the hour ; which is another way of saying, 
it is not the quantity of work, but the quality, that 
achieves the results. This means, get ready for service 
if you would serve with distinction and eltectiveness. 
This means, keep your eyes open for the decisi^^c 
moment. "Watch, therefore, for in an hour that ye 
think not, the Son of man cometh." They that were 
ready went into the marriage feast. The prepared man 
is the secret of success. 



LOGICAL PLACE L\ ISRAEL. 317 

II. The Book of Numbers occupies a logical place 
in the history of Israel. 

1. ^lere historical narration does not explain this 
book. 

The facts in themselves are comparatively unim- 
portant. It is the purpose back of the facts that has 
significance. It was pointed out that the two great 
promises made to Abraham, and repeated to Isaac and 
Jacob, constitute the very heart of Genesis. The first 
promise related to a seed and a country. Genesis 
gives an account of the development of the seed or 
chosen people. Exodus recounts their redemption. 
Leviticus tells of their sanctification through the pe- 
culiar civil and religious institutions appointed, but 
the history can not stop at this point. A great expecta- 
tion has been awakened which must be met and sat- 
isfied. 

2. The real purpose of the Book of Numbers is 
now manifest. The first part of the first promise to 
Abraham has been fulfilled. A nation has been cre- 
ated, redeemed and sanctified. The promised land 
must now be provided as the next necessary step in 
the accompHshment of the great purpose, and in the 
fulfillment of the great promise, but this means con- 
quest. The promised land is occupied by powerful 
and warlike peoples who must be driven out. War 
is inevitable, and an organized army is the imme- 
diate pressing necessity. The Book of Numbers is 
the historic account given by an eye-witness of the 
organization and training of the army of Jehovah for 
the conquest of the country promised to Abraham and 
his seed. 

3. Incidentally in the connection we may well 
pause to notice a wonderful spectacle. 



318 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

Jehovah is calling the very people for whom the 
promise was made to assist him in the carrying out of 
that promise, as if the arm of Jehovah must needs be 
supplemented with the puny arm of man. But this is 
just what God in his wisdom has done. He has called 
man to be a colaborer with him in the carrying out 
of his great purposes. Is it not a thrilling spectacle 
to see Jehovah in the midst of a drilled, organized 
army of men, commanding them through his great 
chosen general and leading them to the conquest of 
the country divinely chosen for their habitation? Two 
questions are here suggested : 

(1) Was all this for Israel's sake, or did God love 
Israel better than he loved the nations which were 
doomed to destruction? Is it not clear that God chose 
Israel and made it the recipient of great blessings 
that they might be his instruments of blessing to all 
mankind? God is no respecter of persons, but he 
chooses one man and confers upon him peculiar favors 
for the sake of all men. Election for service is a 
^reat doctrine of Scripture. 

(2) Has this peculiar and striking spectacle any 
practical bearing on us? Does it not point to the fact 
that the church of the living God is his great army 
commanded and led by the great Captain. Jesus Christ, 
whose mission is the conquest of the world? Let us 
know that the church is God's army, called out from 
the world, redeemed by the blood of Christ, and sancti- 
fied by the Holy Spirit for a great purpose that is 
world-wide in its scope and godlike in its character. 

III. The results achieved by the wilderness ex- 
perience. 

1. The first section of the book comprises the first 
nine chapters and gives us the history that transpired 



WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE. 319 

around Sinai. Organization, military discipline, prep- 
aration, are the burden of this section. A year was 
consumed in this process. 

2. Chapter 10 introduces the history of the wilder- 
ness march. 

Sinai, associated with so many wonderful events 
and experiences, must now be left behind. New lessons 
must now be learned, new experiences encountered 
and new disciplinary processes endured. Surely, we 
say, an army under a great commander selected by 
Jehovah can not fail. Surely its march will be tri- 
umphant and its ultimate victory sure ; surely nothing 
can withstand the omnipotence of God. Alas ! the 
contrary is true. God's progress can be hindered, his 
plans can be, temporarily at least, thwarted, by man, 
strange to say. God's plans are in part wrought out 
through human agency, and the result depends upon 
the efficiency of the assent. If one man or one people 
fail, God wnll doubtless find another, but in the mean- 
time the working out of the divine purpose is checked ; 
the progress of the world toward its ultimate high 
destiny is hindered. Paul understood this when he 
said : "I suffer all things lest I should hinder the 
gospel of Christ." In the history of Israel we see 
some of the ways in which the divinely appointed 
work may be held back. We notice that their progress 
was checked by: 

(1) The murmuring of the people. They com- 
plained, were dissatisfied. Doubtless they exalted their 
own opinions against the wisdom of Jehovah, a by no 
means uncommon action with men in every age. As 
a result, punishment must follow and God's work is 
retarded. 

(2) The people lusted after the fleshpots of Egypt. 
They faced backward with yearning eyes and hungry 



32C THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

he'irts. The great promised blessings of the future 
were crowded out of sight, by the recollection of 
things past and by their present experiences. There 
is no progress except when the eye is fixed firmly on 
the goal and the face is set squarely toward the future 
prize. Man must be drawn forward by hope, and hope 
is a combination of expectation and desire. 

(3) Jealousy came in to play its ever diabolical 
part. When jealousy and envy are present, the devil 
always levies a heavy tax or demands a large con- 
tribution, and Ad^iriam and Aaron, great as they both 
Avere, allowed jealousy to enter their hearts. They 
said : "Hath the Lord indeed spoken only with 
Moses? Hath he not spoken also with us?" This 
shows that otherwise great people may have some 
very weak spots in their nature. Alas for ]\Ioses I 
The last thing to be expected happened to him. Those 
nearest to him, of his own flesh and blood, through 
the operation of the Satanic principle of envy and 
jealousy turned against him, and so again the progress 
was hindered. That punishment followed is no great 
consolation, yet it was a merciful divine judgment. 
Were it not for the punishment connected with sin, 
the world would plunge to its destruction. 

(4) Cowardice comes in to complete the dire ca- 
lamity. Twelve men were sent to spy out the land ; 
two only were brave men and made a favorable report ; 
ten were craven souls who trembled in the presence 
of difficulties and dangers. The people followed the 
majority, which is ever the rule, and reaped the reward 
of their folly. This shows that it is always dangerous 
to intrust important aflfairs to men of inferior mold. 

One thing after another intervened to hinder the 
speedy accomplishment of the divine purpose. God''^ 



WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE, 321 

splendidly organized and drilled army is defeated be- 
fore it ever faces the enemy. It is tucned back to 
perish in the wilderness. What else could be done? 
Only this, that from these miserable, complaining, lust- 
ing, cowardly creatures whom God had exalted by 
choosing as his people shall finally grow up a mighty 
host v/orthy to take part in the accomplishment of 
God's plan. So it must ever be. If one agent fails, 
God will find another; if one people fail, God will 
raise up another. Only let us know this : in the 
end God's purposes shall not fail of accomplishment. 
Now come long years of history condensed into small 
space. x\ll the experiences of this fearful period it 
matters little for us to know. Destruction and devel- 
opment are the two keywords that tell us much that 
was not recorded — the destruction of the incompetent, 
the inefficient, the useless, and the development of an 
agent that God could use to his own praise and glory. 

Do we see any analogy here to the history of the 
church? Alas! how often has that great host of the 
spiritual Israel, that should be "fair as the moon, 
bright as the sun and terrible as an army with ban- 
ners," been thwarted in its purpose and held back in 
its progress by murmurings, jealousies and lustings of 
those whom God has called for high and holy service, 
yea, by the cowardice and faint-heartedness of those 
who ought to be brave and courageous, strong in their 
faith in their Leader, who never lost a battle and who 
has said, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." 
*'Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the 
w^orld." 

3. Chapters 20, 21 and 22 show that a new epoch 
is dawning. Aaron and Miriam pass away. While 
some of the old faults persist, yet a people has been 



322 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

developed of more virile quality. They are able to 
face the enemy successfully. Evidently the time is 
near when they can cross over to possess the land 
chosen of God for their habitation, and where they 
may work out their destiny under God's manifold 
providences, and accomplish the preparation for the 
ushering in of the kingdom of grace and glory. Two 
and a half tribes find permanent habitation on the 
east of Jordan, but they were required to cross over 
with their brethren and assist in the subjugation of 
the land under a new leader. 

4. The results of the wilderness march may be 
summed up in one sentence : The creation of a new 
people fitted for the carrying out of the divine purpose 
respecting Israel. 

Incidentally the evil effects of a slavery upon its 
victims are shown. Long years, yea, generations of 
servitude, had eaten out the manly qualities and ster- 
ling virtues necessary for the accomplishment of great 
things. All God could do was to lead them out into 
the wilderness and then allow them to perish, but 
while the process of destruction was going on he could 
raise up of their children a new people, and develop in 
them, under the free, stimulating, morally healthful 
conditions of desert life, the very virtues and manly 
qualities that slavery had destroyed in their fathers. 
Strange are the ways of Providence. He overruleth 
all things to his own glory, and maketh the wrath of 
man to praise him. 

This should give us confidence in the final outcome 
of God's plans for the redemption of a lost world. 
Oftentimes the future may look dark and the final 
issue uncertain, but let us know that no enemy is too 
strong for God. Whether they are murmurers, lusters 



THREE DISTINCT SECTIONS. 323 

and cowards within, or bitter, relentless foes without, 
all opposition will finally come to naught. Israel had 
to contend against internal and external foes of the 
direst kind, yet finally, through God's good providence, 
she came into possession of her promised inheritance. 

IV. A brief summary of contents is here sub- 
mitted arranged with reference to the three distinct 
sections of the book. 

1. In the first section (chapters 1-10) we have 
the events of the first year: 

(1) Preparation for departure from Sinai — num- 
bering and arrangement of the army. 

(2) Assignment of the duties of the Levites. 

(3) The giving of a body of additional laws. These 
embrace leprosy, trespass, adultery, and the Nazarite 
vow. 

(4) The offering of the princes, at the dedication 
of the altar. 

(5) The consecration of the Levites. 

(6) The keeping of the second passover — the first 
after leaving Egypt. 

(7) The march upon Canaan. 

2. In Section 2 (chapters 11-19) we have the 
events of the next thirty-eight years : 

(1) The murmuring of the people. 

(2) The lusting after Egypt. 

(3) The jealousy of Miriam and Aaroi:, 

(4) The searching out of the spies. 

(5) The cowardice of the people displayed when 
the spies gave their report. 

(6) Condemnation of the people to death. 

(7) Brief history of the long wilderness experience, 
together with notices of the giving of additional laws. 



324 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

3. In Section 3 (chapters 20-36) we have the 
events of the fortieth year: 

(1) Death of Miriam. 

(2) The bringing of water from the rock. 

(3) The death of Aaron at ]Mt. Hor. 

(4) The struggles of Israel with the kings of the 
Amorites and of Bashan, and their successes. 

(5) Alarm of the King of Moab — Balaam sent to 
curse the Israelites. 

(6) Renumbering of the people. 

(7) Moses sentenced to exclusion from the prom- 
ised land. 

(8) Joshua appointed as Closes' successor. 

(9) Recapitulation of the various encampments. 

(10) Command to destroy the Canaanites. 

(11) Arrangements for dividing the land. 

(12) Appointing citi.es of refuge. 

V. The credibility rests on solid grounds. 

The divisive hypothesis examined in earlier chap- 
ters has proven a failure, as must be apparent to an 
unbiased mind. The book is doubtless the product 
of I\Ioses, which statement is strengthened by the 
following facts : 

1. References to Egypt show a knowledge of its 
customs that might be expected of one who was born, 
reared and educated there, which exactly fits ]^Ioses' 
case. 

2, The lists of stations on the journey of the 
Israelites could not have been invented. Nothing has 
been discovered to cast suspicion upon the record here 
furnished. This is one of the most troublesome chap- 
ters for the destructive critics. In fact, it stands as 
an insuperable barrier in their v/ay. This is entirely 



CREDIBILITY ON SOLID GROUNDS. 325 

beyond the possibility of forgery. Nothing Hke it 
would have been attempted by any one living hun- 
Jreds of years after the date of the Exodus. 

3. The nations mentioned in Balaam's prophecy 
are such as existed in Moses' time, which is a remark- 
able fact, if the prophecy Avas written long after the 
conquest and subsequent to the time of David and 
Solomon. 

4. There is an air of antiquity about the book, 
little vestiges here and there, that tend to confirm 
the Mosaic authorship. 

All in all, it must be regarded as a wonderful book, 
full of instruction, abounding in great lessons, some of 
which we have hinted at in passing, but which we will 
not take space to enumerate. It logically belongs just 
where it is found, and constitutes an integral and 
essential part of the Pentateuch considered as one 
great production of a single writer, written with a dis- 
tinct and clearly discoverable purpose. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

The Book of Deuteronomy. 

The word ''Deuteronomy" means second law. This 
name was given to this book because it is a repetition of 
the law given in previous books, with some additions 
dealing with matters not covered in previous legislation. 
There is also some repetition of history, but no new 
historical matter, except a record of the death of Moses 
with the attendant circumstances. It is in part a com- 
mentary on former laws, together with reasons for their 
enforcement. In the time covered, the book stands in 
striking contrast with the other books of the Pentateuch. 
Genesis covers the ground from creation to the time of 
Joseph. Exodus treats of the period from the birth 
of ]\Ioses to the erection of the Tabernacle at Sinai, 
a space of eighty years or more. Leviticus deals with 
the history of the encampment at Sinai, which lasted 
about a year. N'umbers covers the history of forty-eight 
years of wandering in the desert. Deuteronomy is limited 
to the events of about five weeks just prior to the death 
of Aloses. But, notwithstanding the brief interval cov- 
ered, it is one of the most interesting and important 
books of the Pentateuch. It consists of three speeches 
of Moses and an added portion giving the song and bless- 
ing of Moses, and the story of his death, the latter doubt- 
less having been added by the hand of his successor, 
Joshua. 

It is interesting and instructive to study : 
326 



REASONS FOR REPETITION OF LAW. 327 

I. The reasons for a repetition of the law.* 

These reasons stand as the best explanation and justi- 
fication of the book 

1. Repetition is the first great law of emphasis, and 
emphasis is required for the sake of recollection and prac- 
tical application. Lest we forget, God must needs repeat 
his commands and instructions time and time again. 
"There must be precept upon precept, precept upon pre- 
cept ; line upon line, line upon line ; here a little, there a 
little," and even then we forget not only God's laws, 
but his benefits and blessings which are renewed every 
day. Is it any wonder that the great leader, knowing 
this tendency, which was so conspicuously characteristic 
of Israel, sought to impress the laws given by his hand 
by repeating them just before his departure? 

2. The repetition serves to honor God's law and 
magnify its greatness and importance. 

Last words are always interesting and important, 
and it is very suggestive that Moses' last words consisted 
of a repetition of the law. This fact was calculated 
to impress upon the people the necessity of understanding 
and remembering this divinely given code, covering so 
completely the whole range of civil and religious duties. 

3. Closes was about to depart this life after a long 
and most important service to the nation. 

This fact has a bearing on this question of repetition. 
What could be more natural than that the one who had 
led them under the guidance of God should recapitulate 
both the history that had transpired and the laws that had 
been given under his administration? Deuteronomy not 
only stands in natural and close relation to all that 
goes before, but from a psychological standpoint it is 
just what we would expect under the circumstances. 



*"Henrv's Bible," Vol. IT., p. 424. 



328 . THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

4. A new generation had arisen. They were not 
present when the law was first promulgated from Sinai, 
which was a matter not to be overlooked. 

This fact demanded an impressive repetition of the 
law, if no other reason existed. This makes such a 
repetition a most reasonable and important thing. Justice 
to the new generation required it. 

5. Canaan was about to be occupied, the crucial time 
was near at hand — that to which all previous time led. 

Could there have been a better preparation for this 
new army, that was to accomplish the work for which 
their fathers had shown themselves incompetent, than 
to have their minds deeply impressed by the wonderful 
history of their nation and the marvelous code of laws 
committed to them? There is no higher stimulus for a 
great future than the recollection of a great past. What 
better way to kindle enthusiasm, strengthen patriotism 
and stimulate bravery than to call to mind the marvelous 
dealings of God with the nation? That nation is rich 
that inherits a great past. 

II. The contents of the book. 

1. The first division embraces four chapters. 

It consists of an address in which Moses recounts the 
incidents of Sinai and the subsequent history of the wan- 
derings. It is hortatory in character; that is, the history 
is recounted with a hortatory design, than which there 
could have been no better form of exhortation. 

2. Beginning with chapter 5 and ending with chap- 
ter 26, we have recorded a second address of Closes. 

This consists of a repetition of laws and their exposi- 
tion, with slight added portions, mingled with promises 
and threatenings. The occupancy of the land is antici- 
pated and instructions are given regulating life under the 



CONTENTS OF BOOK. 329 

new conditions. Duties of man to fellow-man under 
various circumstances are enjoined and warnings against 
idolatry are uttered ; in short, social duties are empha- 
sized. 

3. The third address begins with chapter 30. In this 
address the blessings and cursings that follow obedience 
and disobedience are set forth. He closes with these won- 
derfully impressive words : 'T call heaven and earth to 
witness against you this day, that I have set before thee 
life and death, the blessing and the curse : therefore, 
choose life, and thou mayest live, thou and thy seed : 
to love the Lord thy God, to obey his voice, and to cleave 
unto him : for he is thy life, and the length of thy days : 
that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord 
sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to 
Jacob, to give them." 

4. Chapter 31 is given to closing words of admoni- 
tion. Joshua, in sight of the people, is admonished to be 
strong and of good courage. The duty of reading the 
law in a public way every seven years is enjoined, and 
the declaration is made and repeated that Moses wrote 
this law in a book and delivered it unto the priests^ 

A remarkable incident is recorded, beginning with 
verse 14: Joshua is called into the tent of meeting to 
receive a charge directly from God. Jehovah there fore- 
tells the apostasy of the nation that would occur in the 
land to which they were going, and the consequent pun- 
ishments that would come upon them. Moses is instruct- 
ed to write a song and teach it to the people, that it 
might become a witness against them in the time of de- 
parture from Jehovah, who had delivered them and led 
them into the goodly land. 

Moses finally gives explicit instruction as to the pre- 
serving of the law he had written, and in sorrow, and 



330 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

almost despair, he speaks of the corruption and departure 
from the right way sure to follow. How wonderfully 
it was all fulfilled in the future history of the nation. 

5. Then comes the song (chapter 32) which God 
had commanded Moses to write, which we may call his 
dying song, which was recited or read in the hearing 
of the people. In this ode God's purpose to punish and 
reject the apostate nation, and the fulfillment of this 
purpose upon the rebellious people and upon the enemies 
of Israel who had led them astray, are set forth in a 
powerful way. In this poem the last of four great char- 
acteristics of Moses are disclosed, that cause him to stand 
forth as one of the greatest men of all time: He was 
(1) a great military leader, (2) a great lawgiver, (3) 
a great orator, (4) a great poet, and withal a man of 
marked piety, integrity and zeal. This ode has been 
called the song of the dying swan. 

6. When we read chapter 33 (the continuation of the 
beautiful poem), we can but feel glad that it was written. 
It would have been a sad ending to a great life to have 
had it consist of words of denunciation and warning in 
which there was so little of cheer and hope. True, he 
never failed to speak the word of forgiveness and promise 
for the penitent, which fall here and there as gleams of 
light upon an otherwise dark picture, but it needed 
chapter 33 to complete the work of the great lawgiver 
in a way to satisfy our hearts. These are words of 
blessing. If God must needs use his servant to speak 
the word of warning, condemnation and judgment, we 
are glad he permitted him to make his parting message 
one of cheer, hope and blessing. 

7. Chapter 34 is probably an appendix from the 
hand of Joshua, or some other authorized scribe. 

True, it may have been written by Moses, by inspira- 



PURPOSE OF BOOK. 331 

tion anticipatory of his own death, but it is more rea- 
sonable to suppose it was written by another hand. It 
is an obituary notice of the great lawgiver who ascended 
Nebo, where he beheld the promised land he was not 
permitted to enter. The most remarkable and interesting 
statement is made that the great leader who had been 
so faithful to the task imposed upon him was buried by 
God himself. What more fitting end of a wonderful man 
and a wonderful career? 

III. The purpose of the book/*' 

Let us try to get into the situation as Moses must 
have viewed it. We will thus be able to enter into his 
feelings and see the purpose with which he wrote. Or, 
if you prefer, let us try to see things with God's eyes, 
if we would understand the reasons for the words he 
put into the mouth of his servant. The first part of God's 
covenant with Abraham has been fulfilled. A great 
nation has been created and disciplined and fitted, through 
the wilderness experience, for the conquest of Canaan. 
It now may be regarded as a fact beyond the peradven- 
ture of a doubt that God will accomplish the second part ; 
namely, give them the land he had promised them. All 
his dealings with the nation leave no room for doubt 
as to what the issue of the coming conflict must be. But 
Jehovah, who knows the end from the beginning, sees 
beyond the conquest to the apostasy that would occur, 
and Moses must have been filled with anxiety as to 
whether a people, hitherto rebellious and unfaithful, would 
remain faithful to him who had* so marvelously led them, 
until in and through them the great purpose of God 



*In this section I am much indebted to Marion Stevenson. 
See ''Studies of the Bible," chapter on Deuteronomy. 



332 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

to bless all nations could be accomplished. He may not 
have known what all the content of God's great purpose 
respecting humanity was, but he certainly knew^ that the 
welfare of the nation, if nothing more was involved, 
depended upon their faithfulness to Jehovah. We would 
ther-efore expect ]\Ioses in the closing days of his life 
to do everything in his power to insure that faithfulness 
in the people he loved. This would also stand as a wit- 
ness between God and his people in view of the calamities 
destined to fall upon him. Faithfulness to Jehovah is 
therefore the burden of the book. How shall this be 
accomplished ? 

1. Moses himself had endured, "seeing him who is 
invisible," the writer of Hebrews tells us. That is, faith 
in the spiritual God was the strengthening force as set 
ever against the idea of faith in the gods of men's hands. 
Hence, in the first address Closes directs their minds 
back to Sinai, when Jehovah spake to them out of the 
midst of the fire, and he reminds them that they heard 
God's words, but saw no form. He also appealed to 
universal history to prove that Jehovah was the only 
God. In an age of universal idolatry what better way 
to fortify the people against its encroachments, and thus 
cause them to remain faithful to Jehovah, than to teach 
them that God is a spirit and that beside him there is 
no other? How could they make an image, or bow 
down to worship one, if these two conceptions remained 
fixed in their minds? 

2. IMoses in the second address seeks to impress two 
attributes of God upon the people ; namely, God's love 
and his vengeance. 

The former he shows them was exhibited in the love 
of God for the nation, notwithstanding their wayward- 
ness, and the latter was revealed in his dealings with the 



PURPOSE OF BOOK. 333 

Egyptians who had been overthrown in the sea. This 
is really a psychological argument. Man is ruled by two 
great forces, love and fear, and these two principles 
Moses seeks to deeply instill into the nation. Those who 
try to banish fear from their religious systems show 
themselves to be both poor theologians and poor psycholo- 
gists. Hence it is that law without a penalty is void. 
Thus far the attributes of Jehovah are brought to view 
as a safeguard against idolatry. 

3. Moses knew, however, the proneness of men under 
prosperous circumstances to forget God, and he knew 
the people were going into a fruitful land where, as the 
Scripture saith, they would "wax fat." 

The next purpose revealed in the address was to 
cause them to remember Jehovah : "And these words, 
which I command thee this day, shall be upon thine 
heart : and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy 
children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in 
thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and 
when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And 
thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and 
they shall be for fronlets between thine eyes. And 
thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thy house, 
and upon thy gates." 

To the end that the nation should remember, other 
expedients were to be used : 

(1) A central sanctuary was to be provided where 
the men should gather three times a year for the great 
national feasts. Twenty times this sanctuary is referred 
to, from chapter I2 to chapter 26. "Causa Memoriae'^ 
explains it all. They could not forget Jehovah as long as 
they remained faithful to the central worship. 

(2) When the nation should choose a king he must 
write a copy of the law with his own hand and read 



334 THE WORD OF TBUTH. 

it all the days of his life (Chapter 17 ). "Like king like 
people" is the thought. 

(3) It was to be written on great stones set up at 
IMt. Ebal after they had crossed over Jordan. (Chapter 
2/.) Here, from ]\lt. Ebal and ^h. Gerizim. the blessing.^ 
and cursings of the law were to be pronounced in hearing 
of the people. 

(4) The law was to be read publicly every seventh 
year at the Feast of Tabernacles. 

(5) A great national song was composed by Closes 
at God's direction, in which the dealings of God with 
Israel, together with threatenings and warnings were re- 
counted. Thus Jehovah's name would be handed forward 
from generation to generation. Song is a powerful 
factor in stirring patriotism, stimulating memory, awak- 
ening enthusiasm and strengthening faith. All nations 
have their patriotic songs, vrhich do more to unify the 
people and hold them to their traditions than any other 
force. 

How could Israel forget Jehovah after the great law- 
giver had taken such measures to cause him to be 
remembered from generation to generation? 

IV. Evidences of the truthfulness of the book. 

1, It bears witness to its own authority time and 
time again. If this witness is false, the morality of the 
act can not be defended. It is useless to say that it was 
ancient custom for writers to assign their productions to 
some great name and that consequently no moral turpi- 
tude is involved. Here the ^losaic authorship is 
imbedded in the very structure of the book. It is incon- 
ceivable that in a divinelv inspired production this could 
have been done, if it were not true. Falsehood and de- 
ception are condemned by the ^losaic law. If Closes did 



TRUTHFULNESS OF BOOK 335 

not write the book, a falsehood of the most glaring kind 
is perpetrated in the book that legislates against it, and 
all this in the name of Jehovah. Perish the thought. 

2. Deuteronomy was more used by some of the 
prophets than any other book of the Pentateuch. 

It had a wonderful influence, which could not have 
been the case if its authorship had been questioned. 
Hosea, Amos, ]\Iicah, Jeremiah and Isaiah refer to it. 

3. It is cited by Christ and his apostles, as the work 
of Moses, notably in :\Iatt. 19: 7, 8; Mark 10: 3-5; Acts 
3: 22; 7: 37; Rom. 10: 5. 

They evidently shared the general view of their time 
and of the great prophets of previous ages. 

4. The style of the book supports the claim that it 
is largely a report of speeches of ]\Ioses orally delivered. 

It is pre-eminently the style of oral hortatory speech. 
It is more rhetorical in language than the other books, 
just as oral speech would naturally be. If it was written 
in the time of Josiah by Hilkiah, or a company of de- 
signing priests, as some of the critics maintain, it is 
the most cunning and skillful forgery ever perpetrated. 
The claim involves a literary miracle. It shocks the 
moral sense of the average man, and imposes far too 
heavy a tax on his credulity. It certainly requires a 
peculiar type of mind, one in which the logical faculty 
is strangely wanting, to accept such a claim. 

V. Some of the great lessons of the book. 

Many of these have been directly or incidentally re- 
ferred to. In addition, we cite a few of the more 
striking : 

1. God's will is the foundation of order and blessed- 
ness. Infraction of the divine law results in destruction. 
Individual and national peace and blessedness depend 



336 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

on faithfulness to the divine requirements. 'Tear God 
and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty 
of man." 

2. Great service can not purchase immunity from 
punishment for individual shortcomings. 

Miriam, Aaron and Moses, great as they w^ere in 
personal characteristics and in service, must suflFer the 
consequences of their transgressions. Even the great 
leader, on account of his one serious aberration, was 
not permitted to enter the promised land. 

3. The greatest man is, after all, a limited man in 
feeling, purpose and power to help. 

]\Ioses was one of the greatest men the earth has 
seen, yet his feelings and purposes were limited to a single 
people, and his ability to help was dependent on the will- 
ingness of the people to be helped. 

Jesus Christ, the great antitype of !Moses, presents a 
great contrast to him in the scope of his sympathies and 
purpose. He was an unlimited man. He felt, thought 
and wrought for all mankind. He knew no limitations 
imposed by race or caste or class. He was the all-men's 
man, the brother of the race, in this respect far over- 
topping the loftiest men of all time. 

4. Patriotism, fidelity to trust and devotion to duty 
are the characteristic qualities of great souls. IMoses 
was an ardent lover of his people : he was faithful to 
the trust imposed upon him under the most trying cir- 
cumstances, and no service or sacrifice was too great for 
him to give. In this he was typical of his great Antitype, 
of whom it was said : "He withheld not himself, 
but freely gave himself the just to die for the unjust." 
This is characteristic of the truly great. 

5. To fall in line Avith God's purposes is the con- 
dition of happiness and the road to success. This is 
abundantly verified in Israel's history. 



COXCLUSION. 337 

6. Great things can only be had by paying a great 
price. 

Israel had to ascend through great tribulation. This 
is the universal rule. Those who escape the cross escape 
the crown. Those who seek ease and pleasure forfeit 
the highest reward. 

7. To live a great life, make great sacrifice, endure 
great trials and afflictions, people must be strengthened 
by the power of the world to come. 

Israel was drawn onward by the promise of the great 
inheritance. So it must be with us. Even of Christ it 
was said : *'For the joy that was set before him he 
endured the cross, and despised the shame, and is now 
set down at the right hand of the majesty on high." 



CONCLUSION. 

It is with reluctance that I come to the close of this 
volume. I am conscious that my work has been very 
imperfectly done. So much might be said that I have 
not the ability to say, nor do my time and opportunity 
permit me to attempt a more elaborate work. This is 
sent forth with the prayer that it may have some mission 
of good in the field that God shall give it ; that its faults 
may be excused and overlooked and its good points be 
found sufficient to justify its existence. My present pur- 
pose is to follow this volume by one on the historical, 
devotional and prophetical books, and by another on the 
books of the New Testament, which work I hope, by 
the blessing of God, to accomplish ere I go hence. 

"And now may the peace of God that passeth all 
understanding abide upon us forever more." 

THE END. 



338 THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

LIST OF AUTHORITIES CONSULTED, 

I cheerfully and gratefully acknowledge my indebted- 
ness to the following authorities, which have been helpful 
to me, either directly in the writing of the book or in- 
directly in my general study and preparation: 

Smith's Bible Dictionary, Cyclopaedia of Biblical Lit- 
erature (Kitto), Bible Cyclopaedia (Fausset), Schaflf- 
Herzog Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge, John- 
son's Universal Cyclopaedia, Chambers' Encyclopaedia, 
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Butler's Bible Work, Henry's 
Bible, Parker's People's Bible, "Types and Metaphors" 
(]^Ionser), "Messianic Prophecy" (Briggs), "Hand-book 
of Christian Evidence" (Scott), "The Divine Demonstra- 
tion" (Everest), "Authorship of Deuteronomy" (Mc- 
Garvey), "Higher Criticism of the Pentateuch" and "The 
Unity of the Pentateuch" (Green). Bissell's "Work on the 
Pentateuch,'" "Principles of Biblical Criticism" (Lias), 
"Prophetic Ideas and Ideals" (Jordan), "Hours with the 
Bible" (Geikie), "Studies in the Bible" (Stevenson), 
"Elements of the Higher Criticism" (Zenos), "Lex 
^losaica." 



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